Can Jonah Peretti Save BuzzFeed From Extinction?
Facing financial straits, the founder is betting on a skunkworks for A.I. experiments.
Jonah Peretti, the founder of BuzzFeed, created a viral hitmaker for the millennial generation. His team of writers and videographers hot-wired social media to jump-start posts like “What Colors Are This Dress?” and “Michael B. Jordan Plays With Puppies While Answering Fan Questions.” He and the company were often hailed as the future of the digital media industry.
Now, he just needs to make sure BuzzFeed has a future.
Last week, BuzzFeed told investors that it faced a cash crunch and was at risk of not continuing as a business. The company fell on hard times over the last decade as tech giants siphoned ad dollars away from online publishers, and an attempt to expand through mergers hasn’t paid off. Its stock has cratered since it went public in 2021.
Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model
The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.
Related Knowledge Center: Artificial intelligence
On top of a failing business model, newsrooms must navigate the powerful — and not fully reliable — new capabilities of artificial intelligence and the deployment of large language models.
State of the business model | Copyright and intellectual property