(New York) The BuzzFeed News website, the icon of the Internet’s new media, will be shut down as part of an austerity plan, BuzzFeed director Jonah Peretti announced Thursday in an internal memo caught on by AFP.
“We’re reducing our workforce by about 15% today…and we’re beginning to shut down BuzzFeed News,” a news site separate from entertainment site BuzzFeed.com wrote Mr. Peretti in a memo to employees.
“While layoffs are taking place in almost every department, we have determined that the company can no longer fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization,” added the BuzzFeed director.
15% of the workforce represents approximately 1,200 out of a total of 8,000 BuzzFeed employees.
Jonah Peretti clarified that “HuffPost and BuzzFeed.com have indicated that they will be opening a number of positions for BuzzFeed News members.”
Founded in 2006, BuzzFeed is the benchmark for the new generation of free information sites steeped in pop culture and built on social networks whose economic model was almost entirely based on advertising.
BuzzFeed shares on the New York Stock Exchange fell more than 20% Thursday after the announcement.
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