BuzzFeed Restructures Advertising Group: Lays Off 20 Staffers But Looks to Hire 45
By Todd Spangler
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – BuzzFeed, looking to put itself into a better position to hit its revenue targets, is making another sizable revamp to its advertising team.
The New York-based digital media company is letting go about 20 employees in the ad division, a spokesman confirmed. At the same time, it plans to hire people for 45 new positions.
chief revenue officer Lee Brown announced the changes in a memo to staff Thursday. The reorg was first reported by Recode .
“BuzzFeed is taking steps to further strengthen its advertising team and support its diversifying revenue mix, including opening more than 45 new positions across Creative, Programmatic, Business Development, and other growth areas,” the company said in a statement. “Unfortunately, these changes will result in a handful of positions being eliminated. We thank our outgoing colleagues for their contributions to BuzzFeed and wish them the best of luck.”
The move comes after BuzzFeed pink-slipped 100 staffers in November, layoffs that cut across ad sales and business operations.
In the memo Thursday, Brown wrote that BuzzFeed needs “stronger accountability across our teams, to ensure each team is truly on the hook for its goals. There are some clear areas where we can operate more efficiently and ease the workload for our overextended teams.”
The company also recently reorganized its video-entertainment group . Earlier this year, it created BuzzFeed Entertainment and Native Advertising, a new group headed by executive creative producer Summer Burton combining the core entertainment business with the branded-creative groups. BuzzFeed Studios, which produces original short- and long-form video content, is now led by former MTV producer Lauren Dolgen (replacing Matthew Henick, who left to join Facebook ).
BuzzFeed’s backers include NBCUniversal, which has invested $400 million in the company. Privately held BuzzFeed does not disclose financial results.
