Posted on 04/24/2023 5:04:30 PM PDT by God luvs America
BuzzFeed’s founder Jonah Peretti reportedly turned down Bob Iger’s $650 million offer to purchase the company ten years prior. Now, the once mega-successful company faces removing their news division completely, laying off 15% of its staff.
Peretti initially agreed to the deal. A few months after accepting the offer, Disney invited him to speak at the moviemaker’s management retreat in front of 250 members of staff. He was given a prominent speaking slot in anticipation of the deal going through as a sort of “welcome” into the company; however, the speech did not go as well as expected.
Peretti delivered an “edgy” speech that contained negative commentary about Mormon and Jewish populations. A Disney Human Resources executive claimed this sort of inclusion would make Peretti a “problem.”
“Peretti had never gotten fewer laughs in his life,” according to former BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith. “He had a vision of himself having to explain the internet to these suits for the rest of his career while they stared blankly back at him and missed his jokes.”
After this speech, Peretti met privately with Bob Iger and pulled the plug on the $650 million dollar deal. Iger then claimed Buzzfeed would “never be worth what it would have been worth with us.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wdwnt.com ...
Does that offer still stand? For a fraction of $650 million I could create a better version of BuzzFeed for him.
Go for it. Can I invest?
Sure, why not. I will have to stock up on aspirin to deal with those writers.
Aspirin? Cannabis works better.
Sometimes, it pays to ‘read the room’.
Focus on formally introducing yourself, describe your company and say a few good things about the potential buyer.
Don’t put too much energy into trying to entertain them.
This is not some Garden Party between old friends.
For a fraction of $650 million I could create a better version of BuzzFeed for him.Who's stopping you?
He probably doesn’t have that “fraction” necessary for that better version.
Buzzfeed 2016 valuation = $1.6B
Buzzfeed 2023 valuation = $100M
Some people just won’t take “yes” for an answer.
Google offered to buy Groupon for $6 Billion. Offer rejected. Today Groupon is worth around $100 Million.
Every company who bought Yahoo has lost money. The ceo’s of Yahoo always made out like bandits.
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