New owner Buzzfeed lays off 45 from HuffPost newsroom

[Omaha Steve]

Last edited Wed Mar 10, 2021, 07:28 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) — 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.



FILE - The entrance to BuzzFeed in New York is seen on Nov. 19, 2020. Buzzfeed announced that it has laid off 45 reporters, editors and producers from the newly acquired HuffPost. The dismissals come three weeks after Buzzfeed acquired HuffPost from Verizon Media. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/media-layoffs-us-news-e9535c28cc6542c13fc189e4f0dc4c69

---

“The union said the layoffs included nearly 30 percent of its membership.”

[Escurumbele]

1. They should get together and start a new "Huffpost", one like it of course

49 people can do it, they have the experience, set a huge competition to buzzfeed, make them sorry for firing so many capable people.

[LogicFirst]

5. And go back to being the real Huffington Post.

[GB_RN]

17. This

HuffPost has been near total garbage since AOL/TimeWarner bought it and added on all the infotainment crap.

[karynnj]

6. It certainly could happen - but it may depend on who they fired, their skills and their desire to

sacrifice to start a new Huffpost. Edited because the Guardian story on this included that most of those laid off were journalists. However, they include everyone from the Canadian HP and some local content from other countries.

From the article, one big complaint that many rightfully have is that they were blindsided, not expecting these cuts. Obviously, this is a terrible time to have to look for a new job. It also is pretty cold to tell people that if they don't get an email by 1 pm they are ok. Those hours must have been super stressing and I bet more than a few who did not get an email still worried unless they were sent something that stated they were not at risk.

As to the content providers, I would imagine that Buzzfeed offered those they saw as "profitable" jobs. I imagine that what Buzzfeed intended to get through this purchase was the name and the content they thought profitable. From the article, HP has run at a loss.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Buzzfeed, Buzzsaw, efficiency and profits are all business cares about

Chop!

[Auggie]

14. Exactly. They're in it for the money.

[Silver1]

3. That's a lot of staff ...

Are they dismantling it? How many reporters total work for HuffPost?

[twodogsbarking]

4. They will screw it up eventually.

Probably won't take long. Wait and see.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

7. Huffpost is mostly tabloid garbage these days.

No big loss.

[GB_RN]

19. Yup

See my post (#17) above.

[MineralMan]

8. So, now, HuffPo becomes ClickFeed.

Not that it wasn't that before, but Buzzfeed is true clickbait.

Useless.

[abqtommy]

9. This morning when I read the CBC/Canada news there was a report that the offices of

HuffPost Canada have been closed.

[Ford_Prefect]

10. Who the hell owns Buzzfeed and what is their agenda in removing so many from Huffpost?

Are we seeing the rise of another Clear Channel style narrow-the-message agency in the medium?

Where did BuzzFeed get the cash from?

[pennylane100]

11. I just took it out of my favorite lists.

[pennylane100]

12. Well I would have, but it is gone, Oh well.

[Snackshack]

13. The Original Huffington Post

when it started was great. The comments section had a lot of good back and forth and differing POV's. However slowly the drive for profits eroded what was a good platform for discussions IMO.


This site is still the best one out there IMO.

[marble falls]

15. The Ariana years were great.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

16. Corporate acquisition mergers have always been a cutthroat business, cutting jobs happens a lot

[monkeyman1]

18. huff post

read it 4 yr's ago for awhile . thought there op-ed's were on drug,s. it was a pos then & will be now . the editors on lot of this news site,s went to collage & wasted there damn money. they should be flip'n burger's . that really should apply to fox snooze .

[Xolodno]

20. Whenever the company you work for gets bought out....

...its time to update the Resume and immediately start looking for a new job. Don't fall for the "we want to keep the talent, we bought you for all the good work you do". They just want you around long enough so they can learn your systems, projects, etc. Then hand it over to their own people.