HuffPost’s National desk has been reduced to three reporters as BuzzFeed’s latest round of layoffs took effect Monday. Management laid off 10 members of the HuffPost Union in total.
Jessica Schulberg, who was laid off after 11 years at the publication, said on X that the desk had seven reporters before Monday’s cuts. It had already been reduced from 14 reporters to seven just over a year ago.
“Today is my last day at HuffPost,” Schulberg wrote. “After 11 years, I was laid off.”
BuzzFeed announced in July that it would eliminate approximately 180 positions across BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Tasty, amounting to 35% of the company’s workforce.
The cuts mark BuzzFeed’s first major restructuring since Byron Allen became majority owner and CEO in May. Allen acquired a 52% stake in the company through a $120 million deal, succeeding BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti as chief executive.
The HuffPost Union issued a statement Monday responding to the layoffs. Schulberg said the union, which is represented by the Writers Guild of America East, successfully fought off proposed cuts to severance and unused PTO payouts for affected members.
“Together, we fought off cuts to severance and PTO payout, which has provided me with so much relief,” she wrote.
Schulberg also said BuzzFeed reversed its policy of compensating laid-off employees for unused PTO shortly before the cuts. Members of the HuffPost Union will still be paid for unused time because the previous policy was codified in the union’s contract.
“I urge BuzzFeed management to pay non-union employees for the PTO they earned,” she added.
Schulberg covered the criminal legal system at HuffPost. Her reporting on Oklahoma death-row prisoner Tremane Wood was cited by his lawyers and family as a key factor in the governor’s decision to grant him clemency last year. BuzzFeed later promoted the impact of her work in a press release.
“We are heartbroken and enraged by these cuts – which come just a year after HuffPost laid off over 20% of its newsroom,” WGAE members at HuffPost said in statement. “Management claims these cuts were financially necessary, but refused to share data to back up that claim or pursue cost-cutting alternatives. We have not been presented with evidence that HuffPost is currently operating at a financial loss. Unlike our previous round of layoffs, management declined to work with the union to offer voluntary buyouts to minimize involuntary job loss.”
HuffPost previously eliminated 30 editorial positions in January 2025, cutting approximately 22% of its newsroom. Then-editor-in-chief Danielle Belton resigned following that round of layoffs.
BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost from Verizon Media in 2021 and eliminated 47 positions shortly after completing the transaction, including 33 union jobs.
BuzzFeed did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
