We Won’t Stand For It

The union stated it would file an unfair labor practice case with the National Labor Relations Board, and asked BuzzFeed management for assistance in preparing a response. “full and fair”Union contract

“Announcing a dramatic reduction to our newsrooms after two years of bargaining and a year since economics were put on the table is not only insulting, it’s regressive bargaining. … Management has even gone as far as soliciting union members for backdoor conversations around the buyouts. We won’t stand for it. This news from management is a proposal, not a mandate — and like every union proposal, anything we accept will be a part of a strong union contract that reflects the worth of our amazing colleagues,”According to the union.

The cuts are part of BuzzFeed’s attempt to curb its losses at the news division. Sources close to the matter claim that BuzzFeed News employs approximately 100 people. Losses of around $10 million per year, per CNBC.

According to BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti on his first earnings call, the planned job cuts would represent 1.7% of the total staff (1,524 people as reported in the company’s January SEC filing) and will impact Editorial (BuzzFeed Video and Complex) and Integration (BuzzFeed and Complex’s administration and business organizations).

Additionally, CNBC reported some of BuzzFeed’s large shareholders have pressured Peretti to shut down its entire newsroom due to concerns that the operation is not profitable for the company.

BuzzFeed declined ’s request for comment.

A shareholder in the report said closing the news organization could increase up to $300 million of the market cap to BuzzFeed’s stock. After merging with 890 Fifth Avenue Partners in December, shares have fallen 50% to $5 from $9 in December and dropped to $5 over the past three months.

These job losses come after BuzzFeed lost Tuesday’s Editor-in Chief Mark Schoofs, Tom Namako, Deputy News Editor Tom Namako, and Ariel Kaminer, Executive Editor of Investigations. On Tuesday, the digital media company’s first quarterly earnings were reported.

“After almost two rollicking and deeply fulfilling years as editor-in-chief, I’ve decided that it’s the right time to move on,”Schoofs informed staff Tuesday morning in an email leaked by BuzzFeed reporters and obtained by.

BuzzFeed News has been awarded many journalism awards including the Pulitzer Prize. But, as part of the cuts, some newsroom employees are being offered voluntary buyouts. This buyout is available to journalists and editors who have been working there for over a year and cover politics, science, and inequality.

“This decision by BuzzFeed undermines the dedication of hard working journalists and devalues the communities and readers they serve — all in pursuit of profit,”Susan DeCarava is the NewsGuild of New York president. “Our members know that real worth is built through a strong contract that recognizes the value of journalism and the workers who produce it, creating a sustainable future for all.”

This wouldn’t be BuzzFeed’s first time slashing content jobs. The company had to cut 70 employees in Canada and the U.S. after it acquired HuffPost last January. Peretti explained at the time that the company made the cuts to cut costs and reduce losses at HuffPost.

“BuzzFeed’s profits continue to soar and yet, Guild members are fighting this same type of vulture capital and poor corporate governance all across the continent,”Jon Schleuss is president of The NewsGuild CWA. “There is only one long-term strategy and that’s to invest in journalism. And investing in journalism involves workers having a voice in decisions that affect their life and work. Our democracy quite literally depends on it.”

BuzzFeed Tuesday reported an 18% increase in Q4 revenue to $145.7 million. This brings the total annual revenue to $398 millions by 2021. The quarter’s time spent on BuzzFeed sites and other platforms is declining, as well as its quarterly revenue for commerce. Since the announcement of its IPO plans for 2021, commerce growth has been a major focus for the company.

Read the union’s entire statement below:

“Once again, it’s clear BuzzFeed management is still learning a fundamental truth about their newsroom: now that we have our union, the era of them making unilateral decisions that affect our work and our lives is over. Yesterday, we were told by management that they want to eliminate our newsroom via voluntary buyouts of our Investigations Politics, Inequality, Science desks.

Today, we’re making it clear to management: they simply aren’t allowed to do that without first reaching a full deal on a union contract. And they’re definitely not allowed to gut our newsroom through illegal union-busting tactics. We will file an Unfair Labor Practice Report with the National Labor Relations Board. We urge management to be open to negotiating a fair and full union contract.

Announcing a dramatic reduction to our newsrooms after two years of bargaining and a year since economics were put on the table is not only insulting, it’s regressive bargaining. This intimidation tactic of framing these reductions in a “done deal” is a destabilizing tactic. Management even solicited union members to have backdoor discussions about the buyouts. We won’t stand for it. This news from management is a proposal, not a mandate — and like every union proposal, anything we accept will be a part of a strong union contract that reflects the worth of our amazing colleagues.

Bottom line: The news we provide, including Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalistic journalism, is essential to our readers; the loss of vital departments is devastating to the communities where we live and work. This decision will be devastating for our newsrooms, it is clear. But this isn’t the first time we’re fighting management on a bad proposal. At the height of the pandemic, management told us it wasn’t possible to preserve jobs and layoffs were necessary. We organized and pushed back hard at the table to win workshare for our coworkers. This program saved jobs and met the financial needs the company during lockdown. We’re not settling for anything less this time around. We’ll be back at the table next Tuesday, March 29, to address this proposal in the context of our complete CBA agreement. This is why we unionized, and we won’t back down now.”