BuzzFeed News Union Vows to Fight Job Cuts: ‘We Won’t Stand for It’

The BuzzFeed News Union represented by The NewsGuild of New York on Tuesday responded to the media company’s plans to slash news jobs through voluntary buyouts.

“Yesterday, we were told that management aims to gut our newsroom through voluntary buyouts in our Investigations, Politics, Inequality, and Science desks,” the organization said in a statement provided to TheWrap. “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.”

The union said it will be filing an unfair labor practice claim with the National Labor Relations Board and urged BuzzFeed management to prepare a “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,” the union said.

The cuts are part of BuzzFeed’s attempt to curb its losses at the news division. Sources familiar with the matter say BuzzFeed News employs about 100 people and loses some $10 million a 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 TheWrap’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. Since going public in December after merging with the special purpose acquisition company 890 Fifth Avenue Partners, share prices have declined some 50% from around $9 throughout December to below $5 in the last three months.

These job cuts come as BuzzFeed on Tuesday lost its Editor-in-Chief Mark Schoofs, Deputy News Editor Tom Namako and Executive Editor of Investigations Ariel Kaminer. The editors announced plans to leave the digital site on the day the media company reported its first quarterly earnings since going public.

“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 told staff in an email Tuesday morning leaked by a BuzzFeed reporter and obtained by TheWrap.

BuzzFeed News has won many journalism awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, but some newsroom staffers are now being offered voluntary buyouts as part of the cuts. The buyout is offered to reporters and editors that cover investigations, politics, inequality or science and have worked there for more than a year.

“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, NewsGuild of New York president, said in a statement. “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. After acquiring HuffPost last year, the company cut 70 staffers in the U.S. and Canada. At the time, Peretti explained that the cuts were made in order to manage costs and cut 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, president of The NewsGuild-CWA, said in a statement. “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 on Tuesday reported a Q4 revenue increase of 18% to $145.7 million, totaling an annual revenue of $398 million in 2021. This quarter, time spent on BuzzFeed-owned sites and outside platforms is in decline, as is its quarterly revenue for commerce. The commerce growth has been a big push for the company since announcing its IPO plans in 2021.

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 that management aims to gut our newsroom through voluntary buyouts in our Investigations, Politics, Inequality, and 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 be filing an Unfair Labor Practice with the National Labor Relations Board and urge management to come to the table ready to reach a 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. Further, framing these reductions as a done deal is an intimidation tactic that undermines the collective bargaining process. 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.

The bottom line is this: the news we deliver, including Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalism, is vital to the readers we serve; this gutting of critical departments is a loss to the communities in which we live and work. There is no doubt this decision is devastating for our newsrooms. 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. But through organizing and strong push-back at the table, we won workshare for our colleagues, a program which saved jobs while meeting the financial needs of 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.”