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BuzzFeed’s revenue dropped significantly in the first three months of 2023, down 27% over the same period. The company expects sales to fall by up to 29% in the second quarter. The slump prompted BuzzFeed to announce last month that it was shutting down its unprofitable BuzzFeed News division and laying off about 180 people, about 15% of its workforce.
“We have reached an inflection point in digital media. Over the past few months, we have made significant strategic and organizational changes to position our business for long-term growth.
“We believe our focus on creators and AI will unlock new opportunities across our portfolio of trusted brands, including Tasty, First we Feast, Complex, HuffPost and BuzzFeed,” said Peretti, founder of BuzzFeed. company and CEO Jonah Peretti said in the announcement. This is the result of Q1.
A BuzzFeed spokesperson said the company hasn’t replaced jobs with AI. BuzzFeed recently started using AI to help him create some content, including quizzes. BuzzFeed expects to incur costs of $7 million to $11 million related to the job cuts, according to SEC filings.
BuzzFeed Q1 revenue decreased 27% YoY to $6,720 as advertising revenue decreased 30% to $34.2 million and content revenue decreased 33% YoY to $21.6 million It was a million dollars. Commerce and other revenue was $11.3 million, up 6% year over year. A net loss of $36.3 million for the quarter improved from a net loss of $44.6 million in the first quarter of 2022.
BuzzFeed expects total revenue in the second quarter of 2023 to be in the range of $76 million to $81 million, down 24% to 29%. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $0 to $4 million, compared with $2.1 million in the same period last year.
