By Michelle Chapman|The Associated Press

Pulitzer Prize winning digital media company BuzzFeed will shut down its news department cuts another 15% of its personnel, about 180 employees, throughout the business, adding to layoffs made earlier this year.

The Los Angeles-based business has approximately 1,200 overall workers, according to a current regulatory filing.

In a memo sent out to personnel, co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti stated that in addition to the news department, layoffs would take place in its company, material, tech and administrative teams. BuzzFeed is also considering making task cuts in international markets.

Peretti stated in a memo to personnel that he "made the decision to overinvest" in the news department but stopped working to acknowledge early enough that the financial support required to sustain operations was not there.

Digital advertising has plummeted this year, cutting into the success of significant tech companies from Google to Facebook. Waves of layoffs have rolled through the tech industry and more are expected.

" I've gained from these errors, and the group progressing has actually learned from them also," Peretti composed. "We know that the changes and enhancements we are making today are needed actions to constructing a better future."

Christian Baesler, the business's chief operating officer, and Edgar Hernandez, its chief earnings officer, are likewise leaving after they help with the restructuring.

The business will now have one remaining news brand name, HuffPost, Peretti wrote.

Reporters who previously operated at BuzzFeed lamented the end of the news division.

" I'm heartsick about it, and happy with the excellent journalism we did when I existed and after I left," stated Ben Smith, BuzzFeed's editor from 2011 to 2020 and now editor-in-chief of Semafor.

Smith made the controversial decision in 2017 to publish a "dossier" of info about then-President Donald Trump, although lots of outlets prevented it as unreliable and even Buzzfeed said there were major reasons to question the claims. He composed then that "we have actually always erred on the side of publishing.

BuzzFeed's shutdown "truly marks completion of the marital relationship in between news and social media," stated Smith, author of "Traffic," an upcoming history of that era.

BuzzFeed said Thursday that all of the news department's work will be protected and readily available within the BuzzFeed network. The company is also working to ensure that any stories presently in progress will be published and promoted on BuzzFeed residential or commercial properties.

The announcement comes simply a couple of months after BuzzFeed said that it would be cutting 12% of its labor force, mentioning getting worse economic conditions.

BuzzFeed, founded by Peretti in 2006 and initially known for listicles and online tests, had actually established itself as a major competitor in the news service, winning a Pulitzer in 2021 for worldwide reporting.

However throughout the years, advertisers, on which BuzzFeed relies, have broadly drawn back on spending to resolve rising expenses. Investing in advertising is normally amongst the most elastic products in a business's spending plan and is often the top place to see cuts.

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David Bauder contributed to this report.