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There was a time not too long ago when BuzzFeed was the hottest name in publishing. They played as large of a part as any outlet in upending the traditional news media model and in 2015 BuzzFeed was seeing 200 million monthly readers to its website including one day in February 2015 that saw 28 million visitors and a record 673,000 concurrent readers on the site.
Then everything crashed. In January 2026, BuzzFeed saw 33.21 million visits according to SemRush. This week, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced the quarterly earnings and those following closely believe this signaled the end is near.
BuzzFeed CEO Announces ‘Substantial Doubt’ The Company Can Continue
In the 2010s it felt like you could not spend more than 10 minutes online without coming across something BuzzFeed-related. People were constantly sharing the quizzes and listicles. BF’s original videos were killing it across all platforms.
These days, the only times people seem to talk about BuzzFeed is when they’re in an airport and say “why is that store named BuzzFeed News?” That’s because back in 2022, BZ licensed its name to Stellar Partners Inc. to brand airport shops with their name. Does it make any sense other than an infusion of cash for BF? Most reasonable individuals would argue that no, it does not. But I digress.
This is the one line in particular that seems to spell doom for BuzzFeed, according to Wall Street chatter:
“There is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Based on the Company’s liquidity position as of December 31, 2025 and our current forecast of operating results and cash flows.”
While there have been improvements in recent years, notably slashing the company’s $165 million in debt by 65% in three years, CEO Jonah Peretti says BuzzFeed is “still facing legacy commitments that are burdening the business.”
In the earnings report, it was announced BuzzFeed’s advertising revenue declined 2.8% year over year, overall revenue declined 2.4%, content revenue increased 9.4%, and commerce revenue declined 9.4%. The company’s operations ran at a total net loss of $57.3 million. Time spent across BuzzFeed properties’ content also declined 7.2% compared to 2024.
Haters might rejoice in seeing this decline but not myself. I might’ve only ever filled out one BuzzFeed quiz at most, maybe none, and I rarely if ever visited the website but kept tabs through headlines. Even still, it was always encouraging to see a media juggernaut which sat outside of the mainstream media.
BuzzFeed reached millennials in a way that mainstream media couldn’t fathom. Now we are entering a new era of media consolidation. The Ellison family will soon own CBS and CBS News, HBO and HBO Max, CNN, TikTok, Comedy Central, Warner Bros. Studios, the Food Network, HGTV, TLC, OWN, TNT, TBS, Adult Swim, Discovery, Showtime, Harry Potter, Star Trek, and the list goes on and on. That is just ONE FAMILY owning all of that media.
One of the things that made BuzzFeed so successful at its peak was user generated content. They saw Arianna Huffington’s success with HuffPo and supercharged the UGC model in a way that nobody could’ve ever anticipated. Were there major issues with that model? Sure. Did it empower everyday individuals to have some minor stake in the news? Yes.
A quick perusal of Google News results for ‘BuzzFeed’ hints at legacy media outlets perversely rooting for the company’s demise. Their fall would be another nail in the coffin of independent media and as an independently-owned media property ourself, as one of the partners here at BroBible, I cannot help but maintain hope BF will find a way to unshackle itself from the “legacy commitments” sinking the ship.