New owner Buzzfeed lays off 45 from HuffPost newsroom
Buzzfeed announced that it has laid off 45 reporters, editors and producers from the newly acquired HuffPost
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Buzzfeed announced Tuesday that it has laid off 45 reporters, editors and producers from the newly acquired HuffPost.
HuffPost Executive Editor Hillary Frey, the website’s executive editor, and Executive Editor Louise Roug also resigned over the layoffs, Buzzfeed said.
The dismissals come just three weeks after Buzzfeed acquired HuffPost, the media outlet founded in 2005 as The Huffington Post, from Verizon Media.
“We never got a fair shot to prove our worth,” the HuffPost union said in a statement.
According to excerpts released by the company, Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti told employees at a meeting that “we will begin to restructure HuffPost today to fast-track its path to profitability. Unfortunately that includes staff reductions, and a number of talented colleagues will be laid off over the next few days.”
Peretti said “losses last year exceeded $20M, and would be similar this year without intervention. Though BuzzFeed is a profitable company, we don’t have the resources to support another two years of losses."
HuffPost Canada will be shut down under the restructuring.
The union said the layoffs included nearly 30 percent of its membership.
“We are devastated and infuriated, particularly after an exhausting year of covering a pandemic and working from home," the union's statement said.
Many of the laid off employees were lamenting losing their jobs on social media after stints of many years, and objected to the way they were told, saying the password for entering the remote meeting was a variation of “spring is here,” making them blindsided by what would come later.
Reporter Rowaida Abdelaziz called it “an absolute cruel and brutal day at HuffPost. I am speechless.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.