BuzzFeed has announced Tuesday that it will reduce its workforce by 12% in an effort to weather the economic downturn that it expects to extend into 2023.
CEO Jonah Peretti told staff in a letter that the digital media company is letting many talented colleagues go. The company said in a filing that it must adapt, invest in the strategy that serves its audience best and readjust its cost structure in order to adapt to the challenging macroeconomic conditions.
The reduction of its workforce is seen as a necessary step in reducing costs.
Our revenues are impacted by a combination of worsening macroeconomic conditions and the ongoing audience shift to vertical video, which is still developing from a monetization standpoint, Peretti said. We have to reduce our costs because of that. Peretti said that reducing its workforce is an essential part of cost cutting, given the fact that staff salaries are the single largest cost at the company. Peretti believes that the company plans to prioritize areas that drive growth and shift from ones that have less audience engagement to ones that have more audience engagement. He stated that it is going to focus on building an even more robust creator business.
Peretti said that he will give employees the respect and support that they deserve as they leave the company because they believe in the strategy we are pursuing, and know it is necessary to navigate the challenging year ahead. BuzzFeed has been the latest company to slash its workforce in the past few months, according to BuzzFeed's announcement.
PepsiCo laid off workers at the headquarters of its North American snack and beverage divisions as a result of recent news that it had to lay off workers. Hundreds of jobs are about to be eliminated, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
There were layoffs for DoorDash, AMC Networks, as well as Amazon and Twitter.
The media industry was hit hard last week as hundreds of industry staff were laid off last week, including those who worked for CNN and Gannett, a company that owns dozens of local media outlets along with USA Today.