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BuzzFeed Announces Deep Cuts To HuffPost Staff After Acquisition
https://www.huffpost.com ^ | 3/09/2021 12:31 pm ET Updated 5 minutes ago | By Sara Boboltz

Posted on 03/09/2021 10:49:45 AM PST by Red Badger

BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost from Verizon Media in February.

BuzzFeed announced layoffs for the HuffPost newsroom on Tuesday, three weeks after acquiring HuffPost from Verizon Media in February.

Hillary Frey, the site’sexecutive editor, and Louise Roug, the executive editor for international, will be departing in the restructuring effort.

HuffPost Canada will also shutter operations later this month.

A deal between BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Verizon Media was first made public in November. Verizon Media stated at the time that BuzzFeed and HuffPost would operate as “separate, distinct news organizations” with their own websites and editorial staff while BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti led the combined company.

Peretti told staffers that the decision, which will affect 47 U.S. employees, was made in order to “fast-track the path to profitability” for HuffPost, enabling the company to break even this year and eventually turn a profit.

Peretti co-founded HuffPost in 2005 with the site’s namesake, Arianna Huffington, along with Andrew Breitbart and Kenneth Lerer, before starting BuzzFeed the following year.

The HuffPost Union, organized as part of the Writers Guild of America, East, slammed the restructuring effort in a statement:

Today, we learned that 33 of our colleagues — nearly 30% of our unit — will be laid off. We are devastated and infuriated, particularly after an exhausting year of covering a pandemic and working from home. This is also happening less than a month after HuffPost was acquired by BuzzFeed. We never got a fair shot to prove our worth. These layoffs reiterate the importance of forming a union and advocating for our colleagues. We are glad that we are protected by a collective bargaining agreement and that our colleagues will receive severance. Our union will continue fighting to make HuffPost a more just and equitable workplace, including pushing for clear and accountable commitments to hiring and promoting more people of color and for transparency around pay equity.

Mark Schoofs, BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief, said last year that a search for a new HuffPost editor-in-chief would begin immediately, and Peretti said Tuesday that the search had reached its final stages.

Frey has led the U.S. newsroom since Lydia Polgreen resigned as editor-in-chief one year ago to join the podcasting company Gimlet Media.

“The group of finalists we are considering is extremely strong, diverse, and committed to the future of HuffPost,” Peretti said. “We anticipate being able to make an offer and an announcement in the coming weeks.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: buzzfeedsux; getagreenjob; learn2code; learntocode; solarpanel
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To: Red Badger

“We never got a fair shot to prove our worth.”

Sure they did, their worth is reflected, however much in a roundabout way, in the market’s assessment of the company’s value, and that value was obviously low enough that a two bit outfit like BuzzFeed could scoop them up


21 posted on 03/09/2021 11:16:10 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Red Badger

22 posted on 03/09/2021 11:18:16 AM PST by AAABEST (NY/DC/LA media/political/military industrial complex DELENDA EST)
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To: Boogieman
“We never got a fair shot to prove our worth.”

Sure they did. They got sold...............................

23 posted on 03/09/2021 11:19:13 AM PST by Red Badger ("We've always been at war with Climate Change, Winston."..............................)
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To: rktman

and they’re UNIONIZED.

The “real” reason how this came about? They moved from a sh*tty bldg. in Hollywood to another “better” sh*tty bldg in the same area. So they PAMPERED the staff by having a shuttle bus from the old parking lot to the new one bec they couldnt afford it. One of the staff people got the idea if they’re pushovers on parking, then they can easily be pushed around in unionizing, which they did and mgmt. folded like Frenchmen in WW2.


24 posted on 03/09/2021 11:19:21 AM PST by max americana (FIRED LEFTARD employees at our office every election since 2008 and enjoyed seeing them cry.)
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To: GnuThere

Chasing endangered birds away from deadly solar panels and windmills.


25 posted on 03/09/2021 11:32:27 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: max americana
"Onionized"

Peretti doesn't care -- 'here's your severance GET OUT'. Not one bit. They are both his properties again.

He convinced himself HuffPo is cannibalizing his preferred Buzzfeed clicks, and not only bought HuffPo back for 30c on the dollar, but also knew most of those HuffPo onionized 'writers' were making low-6 dollars. He nailed 30+ of them out of the gate and just cleaned his line by at least 4 million for 2021.

26 posted on 03/09/2021 11:38:35 AM PST by StAnDeliver (Eric Coomer of Dominion Voting Systems Is The Blue Dress)
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To: StAnDeliver

47! More like 7 million. I love it when a Leftard uses capitalism to screw Leftists. Glorious.


27 posted on 03/09/2021 11:40:25 AM PST by StAnDeliver (Eric Coomer of Dominion Voting Systems Is The Blue Dress)
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To: Red Badger
an exhausting year of covering a pandemic and working from home

Sounds exhausting, clicking all those internet links and watching MSNBC for ideas to crib.

28 posted on 03/09/2021 12:01:35 PM PST by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: Red Badger

29 posted on 03/09/2021 12:10:12 PM PST by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL)
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To: AAABEST

30 posted on 03/09/2021 12:11:12 PM PST by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL)
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To: Red Badger

Like other lefty sites the HuffPost has stopped allowing reader comments. Can’t take the heat.


31 posted on 03/09/2021 12:14:44 PM PST by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL)
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To: Red Badger

32 posted on 03/09/2021 1:47:20 PM PST by Trump20162020
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To: Red Badger

BuzzFeed
From Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BuzzFeed

“Despite BuzzFeed’s entrance into serious journalism, a 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that in the United States, BuzzFeed was viewed as an unreliable source by the majority of respondents, regardless of age or political affiliation.[11] The company has been described as ‘left-leaning’.[12]”


33 posted on 03/09/2021 2:52:32 PM PST by familyop
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To: KC_Lion

Solar panels - love them live them build them 🌞


34 posted on 03/09/2021 4:08:25 PM PST by NWFree (Socialism is legalized plunder)
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To: Red Badger

Learn to code.

L


35 posted on 03/09/2021 4:12:24 PM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
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To: qam1

Apparently they wiped out the Huffpo Canadian division entirely. Only 23 jobs but we gotta take the good news where we find it these days.


36 posted on 03/09/2021 7:03:38 PM PST by xp38
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To: Red Badger

When I first read the headline I thought it said Babylon Bee buys Huff Post. I thought to myself, that’s the first news I’ve seen all day that made any sense.


37 posted on 03/09/2021 8:50:01 PM PST by The Bishop (Forgive me Lord, for sometimes I do speak my mind.)
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To: Trump20162020

LOL!............

Is there a Tweet:

Today, we are unemployed!..............


38 posted on 03/10/2021 6:18:10 AM PST by Red Badger ("We've always been at war with Climate Change, Winston."..............................)
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To: max americana

Why did you go to Buzzfeed offices!


39 posted on 05/16/2021 5:01:40 PM PDT by NetAddicted (Just looking)
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To: NetAddicted

Business. They promote our projects for cheap than say Netflix. I’ve been there more than a few times since the beginning. . The first was before the employees unionized and they had this sh*tty building off Sunset and Vine. The employees then got “pampered” after they moved to a new location off Sunset and they were being BUSSED from the old sh*tty location. That’s when these clowns unionized.


40 posted on 05/16/2021 6:51:57 PM PDT by max americana (FIRED LEFTARD employees at our office every election since 2008 and enjoyed seeing them cry.)
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