BuzzFeed wields ax for third spherical of coronavirus cuts

BuzzFeed made a 3rd spherical of coronavirus-related cuts this week — and for the primary time, took intention on the journalism facet of the corporate.


The cuts concerned the furloughs of 19 staffers by newly put in Editor-in-Chief Mark Schoofs, who was tapped earlier this month to succeed Ben Smith, who left for The New York Occasions.


Schoofs furloughed 4 folks within the US, together with BuzzFeed’s Washington, DC, bureau chief and the location’s inventive director, in addition to 10 journalists in London and 5 in Australia. The cutbacks come as BuzzFeed boss Jonah Peretti scrambles to maintain coronavirus-induced losses underneath $20 million this 12 months.


Extra reductions are anticipated as Peretti and Schoofs sit down with the NewsGuild this week to barter paring again the rank-and-file workers on the editorial facet of the corporate, which produces the arduous information and is unionized. The facet that produces the cat movies and listicles — and pulls in many of the site visitors — isn't unionized and has borne the brunt of the cost-savings so far.


This week’s actions hit Kate Nocera, BuzzFeed’s DC bureau chief and daughter of New York Occasions columnist Joe Nocera, and Artistic Director Dennis Huynh, a five-year veteran.


Nocera, who left BuzzFeed in 2015 for a public relations job solely to return the following 12 months, tweeted on Wednesday, “That is such a wierd time and I’m having quite a lot of emotions, however largely simply that this was the very best job I’ve ever had.” She added, “There’s a motive I got here again to BuzzFeed Information four years go — it’s the folks.”


Huynh tweeted, “It has been a magical 5 years and a privilege to steer the great folks of @BuzzFeedNewsArt and @styleguide all through the years.”


Though each tweets gave the impression of goodbye notes, a spokesman stated any cuts this week concerned three-month furloughs — not layoffs.


This newest spherical follows the sooner furlough of 68 folks for 3 months unveiled on Could 6 and efficient Could 16. The sooner strikes have been from the facet of the corporate that generates quizzes, listicles and pet movies that helped BuzzFeed in its early days by attracting readers from social media retailers like Fb.


In one more spherical of cuts unveiled in late March, Peretti stated he would forgo pay till the pandemic was over whereas reducing workers pay on a sliding scale — starting from 5 p.c for workers making lower than $65,000, as much as 10 p.c for workers over $90,000, and 25 p.c for prime executives.



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