Mark Schoofs has resigned from the media company, as it reports its first earnings report as a public company.
In addition to Schoofs, Deputy News Editor Tom Namako (whom Schoofs said in his resignation letter would’ve been his “natural successor”) and Executive Editor of Investigations Ariel Kaminer also announced plans to leave the digital site.
Schoofs has announced that Samantha Henig (New Strategy and Operations) will lead the newsroom as BuzzFeed looks for his replacement. BuzzFeed News Director Jason Wells, and Deputy Investigations Editor Alex Campbell will manage daily news operations.
“I have absolute confidence in these three outstanding people to guide our newsroom through the transition,”Schoofs wrote.
Schoofs’ also commented on the future for the the newly publicly traded company and the announcement of job cuts in the newsroom.
“The next phase is for BuzzFeed News is to accelerate the timeline to profitability and undergo a strategic shift so that we will get there by the end of 2023,”He wrote. “That will require BuzzFeed News to once again shrink in size. This is a business decision, and [BuzzFeed Founder and CEO Jonah Peretti] will tell you more about it at brews.”
He continued, “But I can say this: We hope to reduce our size through voluntary buy-outs, not layoffs, and we have reached out to the union to negotiate buyouts. Also: This is not your fault. You have done everything we asked, producing incandescent journalism that changed the world.”
Peretti stated that the planned job reductions would affect BuzzFeed video, Complex editorial staff, and 1.7% of total staff. This was Peretti’s first earnings call since the company went public. Schoofs stated in a letter that management wants to offer buyouts rather than outright layoffs.
The editorial changes are taking place as the company reported a Q4 increase of 18% to $145.7 Million, reaching total revenue of $398,000,000 in 2021. In its first earnings announcement since Complex Networks’ acquisition, it announced full-year and quarterly results.
BuzzFeed, a digital media company based in New York City, was the first to go public. HuffPost was also acquired by the company in February 2021.
Read Schoofs’ full resignation letter below:
Hello,
After almost two rollicking and deeply fulfilling years as editor-in-chief, I’ve decided that it’s the right time to move on, and Tom, who would have been a natural successor, has just accepted an amazing job offer elsewhere that will be announced soon.
Samantha Henig will head the newsroom until the new EIC is named. Alex Campbell and Jason Wells will handle the day-today operations. These three exceptional people will be guiding our newsroom through this transition with complete confidence.
We are also launching a search, internally and externally, for a new editor-in-chief to lead a new BuzzFeed News — one that will start out financially stable. Under Jonah’s leadership, the company has subsidized BuzzFeed News for many years. The next phase is for BuzzFeed News is to accelerate the timeline to profitability and undergo a strategic shift so that we will get there by the end of 2023. That will require BuzzFeed News to once again shrink in size. This is a business decision. Jonah will discuss it at Brews.
However, I can tell you this: We want to reduce our size by voluntary buy-outs and not layoffs. To do so, we reached out to the union in order to negotiate buyouts. It is not your fault. You’ve done everything we asked. This is incandescent journalism that has changed the world.
This is a lot of information. The newsroom is safe and sound during this interim. Sam is one of the most wise and creative leaders I’ve ever worked with. Before joining our newsroom, she was the editorial director for audio at The New York Times, where in three years she built, from scratch, the Times’ podcasting business and helped create The Daily. Here at BuzzFeed News, she has been a true partner with me in running the newsroom, involved in every major decision. She was the lead person in shaping our revenue strategy, bargaining with the union, overseeing Operations, working with Sara in her oversight of the Rocket Squad, and so much more — including, together with Ginny, leading the newsroom between Ben’s departure and my arrival. It was an honor to work side-by-side, and I am certain she will do an outstanding job.
With Mary Ann on leave, Jason oversees our largest team, Breaking, and has edited our exclusive coverage of abuses in Hollywood — including Krystie’s dynamite reporting on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Dr. Phil Show — as well as our unparalleled immigration reporting by Hamed Aleaziz and Adolfo Flores. He’s known for being direct and no-nonsense both on the page and off, and he led our Los Angeles Bureau and kept spirits up through the pandemic and several office changes. Also, he’s got a great wardrobe.
Alex, our London Bureau Chief is an unflappable editor and reporter. His explosive series on laws that imprison battered women led to one of those women walking free, and together with Katie Baker, he wrote a jaw-dropper that changed Maryland’s rape law. He has edited some of our highest-stakes investigations, including Megha’s Pulitzer Prize-winning series, as well as breaking news that erupts before the US team signs on. He has also led the London crew through turbulent changes and the pandemic.
Alex and Jason have already worked together, most recently on Chris’ coverage of Ukraine. And their geographical locations — Jason in LA and Alex in London — will give us smart and steady editorial leadership almost around the clock.
During this transition, Sam, Jason and Alex will have important partners. Karolina will continue her leadership role as a newsroom reporter and in running the Culture team. Sam has promoted Eva to the core of the leadership team.
Ariel has made a commitment to oversee the largest stories Tech and Investigations have cooked, but has decided to move forward. She’ll have more to share on that soon.
This is, obviously, a huge amount of change. It’s wrenching. But I know, in my bones, that Sam, Jason, and Alex will guide BuzzFeed News through this transition with exceptional skill and empathy.
Brews will announce a shift of editorial focus and structure as a result of a smaller newsroom. Sam and Tom have been working on an editorial plan for a smaller BuzzFeed News, and if Tom hadn’t gotten his new opportunity, which has been in the works for a while, he was planning to stay on and lead this new vision. Our core strength, providing authoritative, fast and accessible coverage of the IRL and internet nexus, will be highlighted in the new plan. Pound for pound, BuzzFeed News is the best newsroom in America, and the people who stay will do terrific work.
We will be offering voluntary buyouts to anyone on Investigations, Politics, Inequality, or Science who has worked here for at least a year and who decides it’s time to move on. We will be in touch with the NewsGuild to discuss the proposal and will share further details with everyone as soon we can. It’s important to know that you will have time to think this through: After we settle on a buyout package, you will have more than a month to decide whether to take it.
Reach out to Sam and Tom, or your union representative, if you are interested in discussing the possibility of a buyout. We won’t be able to advise you on whether to take it, of course, but we can talk with you more about the new vision for BuzzFeed News so that you can see if it feels like a fit.
These past two years have been an incredible ride. We covered everything from celebrity news to the most serious investigations to war coverage in Ukraine. This newsroom has always pushed way, way beyond our weight throughout it all. While I would love for you to be honored for the hard work you do, it would make this an extremely long email. And you know how I feel regarding length. But there are so many brilliant stories we’ve published — stories that exposed corruption and abuse, that changed lives, that bore witness, that made people laugh, that captured the zeitgeist. Our journalism is our finest achievement, and I’m immensely proud of your work.
Sam, Tom and I were very focused on the business side of journalism. With the help of people across the company, BuzzFeed News has made strides in the right direction — we lost less money in 2021 than we did in 2020.
Importantly, by working with Finance and Biz Org, we have set up many of our company’s building blocks. We’ve created a dynamite Health Team, which is providing readers with reliable and accessible information while creating a fertile environment for advertising and commerce. We’ve doubled the size of our Celeb reporting team; because their journalism is so far ahead of their competitors, they drive a staggering amount of traffic. We also have an exciting new editorial product that’s not yet public but that we’re already pitching to advertisers. All this, along with other initiatives, will help BuzzFeed grow its revenue.
Also, beginning last year, we worked with the Biz Org and HuffPost to consolidate our business development teams so that they provide support across both BuzzFeed News and HuffPost, and so that we can learn from HuffPost’s business success. This plan is operational now and will be a great help.
We have a strong Product, Design, and Engineering team supporting BuzzFeed News that wasn’t in place when I arrived, and they are building a faster, smarter BuzzFeed News product for our users. And I’ve been impressed by BuzzFeed’s new COO, Christian Baesler, and our new CRO, Edgar Hernandez, both from Complex.
Everyone, editorially and in business, my best wishes for success.
Finally, I’m proud of how we improved our internal newsroom culture. We’ve become more diverse, tripling the percentage of people managers who are BIPOC, and increasing by 50% our promotions of BIPOC staff. We’ve put a major focus on mental health, bringing in compelling speakers and trainers, and contracting with CiC to provide journalist-specific counseling and peer support for our newsroom and HuffPost. We have a superb mentorship program, and we’ve instituted a vibrant new training on our standards and ethics to make sure that our journalism stays rigorous and powerful. We have also reached 20 tentative agreements with our union. These accomplishments represent the work of all of us, and I’m grateful to each of you.
Most importantly, we’ve shown, time and again, that we care about each other. That will be our strength in the coming weeks.
To help ensure a smooth transition, Tom will remain on staff through April 8, and I’ll stay on through the end of April. We are both available to speak one-on-one with you.
Thank you.
All best,
Mark
Joe Bel Bruno also reports.
