By BuzzFeed Inc.
BZFD,
+3.13%
said it expected revenue to decline in the current quarter, and it is reducing its workforce by 1.7%, as the digital-media business issued its first earnings report as a publicly-traded company.
BuzzFeed founder and Chief Executive Jonah Peretti said on Tuesday’s earnings call that the company was looking to boost profitability at its news division, BuzzFeed News, by reducing headcount and giving priority to “coverage of the biggest news of the day, culture and entertainment, celebrity and life on the internet.”
BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Mark Schoofs said in a note to staff Tuesday that he was leaving the company, as was his deputy, Tom Namako.
“The company has subsidized BuzzFeed News for many years,” Mr. Schoofs wrote in his note. The next phase for the news division, he said, is to accelerate its timeline to profitability and undergo a strategic shift. “That will require BuzzFeed News to once again shrink in size.” He said the company was looking to reduce headcount through voluntary buyouts, not layoffs.
An expanded version of this story appears on WSJ.com.
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