BuzzFeed announces deep cuts to HuffPost staff after purchase

BuzzFeed announced layoffs for HuffPost on Tuesday, three weeks after the acquisition of HuffPost from Verizon Media in February.

Hillary Frey, the site’s executive editor, and Louise Roug, the international’s executive editor, will leave for the restructuring effort.

HuffPost Canada will also operate the closing operations later this month.

An agreement between BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Verizon Media was first made public in November. Verizon Media said at the time that BuzzFeed and HuffPost would operate as “separate news organizations” with their own websites and editorial staff, while BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti ran the combined company.

Peretti told employees that the decision, which will affect 47 American employees, was made to “quickly follow the path to profitability” for HuffPost, allowing the company to arrive later this year and eventually make a profit.

Peretti co-founded HuffPost in 2005 with the site’s namesake, Arianna Huffington, along with Andrew Breitbart and Kenneth Lerer, before starting BuzzFeed the following year.

The HuffPost Union, organized as part of the Writers Guild of America, East, criticized the restructuring effort in a statement:

Today, we learned that 33 of our colleagues – almost 30% of our unit – will be fired. We are devastated and angry, especially after a tiring year of covering a pandemic and working from home. This happens less than a month after HuffPost was purchased by BuzzFeed. We never had the right shot to prove our worth. These dismissals reiterate the importance of forming a union and advocating for our colleagues. We are glad that we are protected by a collective agreement and that our colleagues will be fired. Our union will continue to fight for HuffPost to become a fairer and more equitable job, including making clear and responsible commitments to hiring and promoting more people of color and transparency in pay equity.

BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Mark Schoofs said last year that he would immediately begin searching for a new HuffPost editor-in-chief, and Peretti said Tuesday that the search had reached the final stages.

Frey has led the American newsroom since Lydia Polgreen resigned as editor-in-chief a year ago to join podcasting company Gimlet Media.

“The group of finalists we consider is extremely strong, diverse and committed to the future of HuffPost,” said Peretti. “We look forward to making an offer and an announcement in the coming weeks.”