History of BuzzFeed in Timeline
BuzzFeed is an American Internet media, news, and entertainment company established in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III, with Kenneth Lerer as a co-founder, investor, and later executive chairman. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed initially focused on tracking viral content and has since expanded into a broad digital media platform.
2006: BuzzFeed Founded
In 2006, BuzzFeed was founded by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III with the goal of tracking viral content. Kenneth Lerer, co-founder and chairman of The Huffington Post, was also a co-founder and investor, and is now the executive chairman.
2006: BuzzFeed Laboratories Started
In 2006, while working at the Huffington Post, Jonah Peretti started BuzzFeed (originally called BuzzFeed Laboratories) as a side project, in partnership with his former supervisor John Johnson. The site initially launched an instant messaging client, BuzzBot, which sent users links to popular content.
2008: BuzzFeed Raises $3.5 Million
In 2008, BuzzFeed raised $3.5 million through Hearst Ventures and SoftBank.
2010: Revenue Baseline for 2011 Tripling
In 2010, BuzzFeed's revenue was the baseline for the tripling of revenue in 2011 after running over 100 social media campaigns.
December 2011: BuzzFeed News Division Begins
In December 2011, BuzzFeed's news division began with the appointment of Ben Smith as editor-in-chief.
2011: Revenue Triples
In 2011, BuzzFeed ran more than 100 social media campaigns, resulting in their revenue tripling compared to 2010.
2011: Ben Smith Hired
In 2011, Jonah Peretti hired Politico's Ben Smith to assemble a news operation in addition to the many aggregated "listicles" on BuzzFeed.
January 2012: BuzzFeed Earns $15.5 Million in Funding
In January 2012, BuzzFeed announced that it had earned $15.5 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates, Lerer Ventures, Hearst Interactive Media, SoftBank, and RRE Capital to expand the site's content.
June 2012: Allegations of plagiarism against Matt Stopera
In June 2012, Gawker's Adrian Chen observed that one of BuzzFeed's most popular writers—Matt Stopera—frequently copied and pasted "chunks of text into lists without attribution."
July 17, 2012: McSweeney's publishes satirical "Suggested BuzzFeed Articles"
On July 17, 2012, McSweeney's Internet Tendency published a satirical piece entitled "Suggested BuzzFeed Articles", prompting BuzzFeed to create many of the suggestions. BuzzFeed listed McSweeney's as a "Community Contributor", which led to more than 350,000 page views and user submissions and eventually, media attention.
October 2012: BuzzFeed Runs Sponsored Content for Obama Administration
In October 2012, BuzzFeed ran sponsored content for the Obama administration leading to an increase in ad revenue.
2012: BuzzFeed Acquires Kingfish Labs
In 2012, BuzzFeed's first acquisition was Kingfish Labs, a startup focused on optimizing Facebook ads.
2012: Ze Frank Hired
Since hiring Ze Frank in 2012, BuzzFeed Video has produced several video series, including "The Try Guys".
January 2013: New Enterprise Associates Raises $19.3 Million
By January 2013, BuzzFeed announced that New Enterprise Associates had raised $19.3 million.
March 2013: The Atlantic Wire reports copied "listicles"
In March 2013, The Atlantic Wire reported several "listicles" had apparently been copied from Reddit and other websites.
May 2013: BuzzFeed launches "Community" section
In May 2013, BuzzFeed launched the "Community" section to enable users to submit content. Initially, users were limited to one post per day, with submission capacity tied to their "Cat Power," an official measure of rank in BuzzFeed's Community.
December 2013: BuzzFeed Tops NewsWhip's Facebook Rankings
From December 2013 to April 2014, BuzzFeed consistently ranked at the top of NewsWhip's "Facebook Publisher Rankings".
2013: Mark Schoofs Hired
In 2013, Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Schoofs of ProPublica was hired as head of investigative reporting at BuzzFeed News.
April 2014: Huffington Post Enters NewsWhip's Facebook Rankings
Until April 2014, BuzzFeed consistently ranked at the top of NewsWhip's "Facebook Publisher Rankings" when The Huffington Post entered the position.
July 2014: Benny Johnson fired for plagiarism
In July 2014, BuzzFeed writer Benny Johnson was accused of multiple instances of plagiarism, and subsequently fired after 41 instances of plagiarism were found and corrected.
August 2014: BuzzFeed Raises $50 Million from Andreessen Horowitz
In August 2014, BuzzFeed raised $50 million from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, more than doubling previous rounds of funding. The site was reportedly valued at around $850 million by Andreessen Horowitz.
August 2014: BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Announced
In August 2014, the company announced a new division, BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, which may produce feature-length films.
October 2014: BuzzFeed Acquires Torando Labs
In October 2014, BuzzFeed announced its next acquisition, Torando Labs, which would become BuzzFeed's first data-engineering team.
October 2014: Pew Research Center finds BuzzFeed viewed as unreliable
In October 2014, a Pew Research Center survey found that in the United States, BuzzFeed was viewed as an unreliable source by the majority of people, regardless of political affiliation. Adweek noted that most respondents had not heard of BuzzFeed, and many users do not consider BuzzFeed a news site.
December 2014: General Atlantic Acquires $50 Million in Secondary Stock
In December 2014, growth equity firm General Atlantic acquired $50 million in secondary stock of BuzzFeed.
2014: BuzzFeed Adds Traditional Content and Deletes Early Posts
In 2014, BuzzFeed added more traditional content and deleted over 4000 early posts.
2014: BuzzFeed receives 75% of views from social media links
In 2014, BuzzFeed received 75% of its views from links on social media outlets such as Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.
2014: Pew Research Center Survey
In 2014, a Pew Research Center survey found that BuzzFeed was viewed as an unreliable source by the majority of respondents in the United States, regardless of age or political affiliation.
February 2015: Viral "The Dress" post sets BuzzFeed record
In February 2015, a post resulting in a debate over the color of an item of clothing from BuzzFeed's Tumblr editor Cates Holderness garnered more than 28 million views in one day, setting a record for most concurrent visitors to a BuzzFeed post, which reached 673,000 at its peak. The post was about "The Dress", an item of clothing.
April 2015: BuzzFeed deletes posts critical of advertisers
In April 2015, BuzzFeed drew scrutiny after Gawker observed the publication had deleted two posts that criticized advertisers, including Dove soap and Hasbro. Ben Smith apologized and reinstated both posts. Days later, one of the authors, Arabelle Sicardi, resigned.
June 2015: BuzzFeed changes social media avatar to rainbow colors
In June 2015, BuzzFeed temporarily changed the theme of its social media avatars to rainbow colors to celebrate same-sex marriage being ruled constitutional in the United States.
August 2015: NBCUniversal Invests $200 Million in BuzzFeed
In August 2015, NBCUniversal made a $200 million equity investment in BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed planned on hiring more journalists globally and building a more prominent "investigative" unit. It planned on opening outposts in India, Germany, Mexico, and Japan and hiring for its UK bureau, motion picture unit, and food-themed business, Tasty.
2015: BuzzFeed Starts Podcasting Team
In 2015, BuzzFeed started an in-house podcasting team, through which the podcasts Another Round and Internet Explorer were developed and launched.
February 2016: BuzzFeed Canada writer's tweet sparks controversy
In February 2016, Scaachi Koul, a Senior Writer for BuzzFeed Canada, tweeted a request for pitches stating that BuzzFeed was "...looking for mostly non-white non-men" followed by "If you are a white man upset that we are looking mostly for non-white non-men I don't care about you go write for Maclean's." Her tweets, deemed racist and sexist, resulted in hate comments and threats of violence.
April 8, 2016: BuzzFeed interns create watermelon explosion live stream
On April 8, 2016, two BuzzFeed interns created a live stream on Facebook, during which rubber bands were wrapped one by one around a watermelon until the pressure caused it to explode. The video is seen as part of Facebook's strategy to shift to live video, Facebook Live, to counter the rise of Snapchat and Periscope among a younger audience.
June 2016: BuzzFeed's coverage of Obama and advertising disagreement with the Republican National Committee
In June 2016, a report criticized BuzzFeed's coverage of Barack Obama as "creepy" and "almost uniformly uncritical." BuzzFeed also canceled an advertising agreement with the Republican National Committee due to "offensive remarks" made by Donald Trump.
August 2016: Michael Cohen allegedly meets with Russian officials
In August 2016, a claim in the Steele dossier alleged that Trump's attorney Michael Cohen had met in August 2016 with Russian officials in Prague, Czech Republic, a claim that Cohen has vehemently denied. The dossier was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017.
2016: BuzzFeed is among the least trusted sources by millennials
A 2016 Pew report based on 2014 surveys, BuzzFeed was among the least trusted sources by millennials. A study by the Columbia Journalism Review found readers less likely to trust a story that appeared to originate on BuzzFeed than the same article on The New Yorker website.
2016: BuzzFeed News Investigative Journalists
By 2016, BuzzFeed had 20 investigative journalists.
2016: BuzzFeed News and Entertainment Group Formed
In 2016, BuzzFeed formally separated its news and entertainment content into BuzzFeed News and the newly formed BuzzFeed Entertainment Group, which also includes BuzzFeed Motion Pictures. BuzzFeed also had correspondents from 12 countries and foreign editions in multiple countries.
2016: NBCUniversal Invests Additional $200 Million
In 2016, NBCUniversal invested an additional $200 million in BuzzFeed after the two companies had collaborated on many projects, namely the Rio Olympics. The companies planned to work together to market themselves to advertisers.
2016: Claims of BuzzFeedVideo stealing content surface
In 2016, claims surfaced of the YouTube channel BuzzFeedVideo stealing ideas and content from other creators.
2016: BuzzFeed broke UK advertising rules for Dylon advertorial
In 2016, the Advertising Standards Authority of the United Kingdom ruled that BuzzFeed broke the UK advertising rules for failing to clearly label an article promoting Dylon as a paid online advertorial. The ASA acknowledged BuzzFeed's argument that links from its homepage labeled the article as "sponsored content", but the ASA noted the labeling "was not sufficient to make clear that the main content of the web page was an advertorial and that editorial content was therefore retained by the advertiser".
2016: Tasty sponsors show Worth It
Since 2016, Tasty sponsors a show named Worth It starring Steven Lim, Andrew Ilnyckyj, and Adam Bianchi.
January 2017: BuzzFeed publishes Steele dossier
In January 2017, BuzzFeed faced widespread criticism for publishing the unverified Steele dossier. Then-President elect Donald Trump referred to BuzzFeed as a "failing pile of garbage".
January 2017: BuzzFeed community content reaches 100 million views
In January 2017, BuzzFeed's user-generated community content accumulated 100 million views.
2017: BuzzFeed Employee Count and Layoff Plans
By the end of 2017, BuzzFeed employed around 1,700 employees worldwide, but announced plans in November to lay off around 100 employees in the US, 45 in the UK, and 100 in France in June 2018.
2017: BuzzFeed wins Webby Awards
In 2017, BuzzFeed won Webby Awards for Best News App and Best Interview/Talk Show (for Another Round), and president Greg Coleman was named Publishing Executive of the Year by Digiday.
2017: BuzzFeed voted second least trustworthy source in US
In a 2017 survey among US readers, BuzzFeed was voted the second least trustworthy source among American readers, with Occupy Democrats being lower-ranked.
June 2018: BuzzFeed Layoffs in Europe
In June 2018, BuzzFeed laid off employees, including 100 in France, as part of a broader restructuring plan.
June 2018: The Try Guys leave BuzzFeed
In June 2018, Eugene Lee Yang, Zach Kornfeld, Keith Habersberger, and formerly Ned Fulmer (The Try Guys) left BuzzFeed and created their own independent channel, also titled "The Try Guys".
September 2018: BuzzFeed Shuts Down Podcast Department
In September 2018, BuzzFeed shut down its podcast department and laid off the staff due to a lack of desired ad revenue. It cancelled most of its podcasts, including See Something, Say Something.
2018: Revenue Increase
In 2018, BuzzFeed raised revenue by 15% from 2017.
2018: Night In/Night Out series canceled
In 2018, Ned and Ariel Fulmer left BuzzFeed with the Try Guys, leading to the subsequent cancellation of their series Night In/Night Out.
2018: BuzzFeed news a finalist for Pulitzer Prize
In 2018, staff of BuzzFeed news was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in their international reporting category for their article that "proved that operatives with apparent ties to Vladimir Putin have engaged in a targeted killing campaign against his perceived enemies on British and American soil".
January 2019: BuzzFeed announces workforce cut
In January 2019, BuzzFeed announced that it would cut its workforce by 15%.
January 2019: Unpaid contributors create popular quizzes
In January 2019, Matthew Perpetua, BuzzFeed's director of quizzes, revealed that many of the site's most popular quizzes were created by unpaid contributors. One college student's quizzes made an estimated $3.8 million for the media company.
January 2019: BuzzFeed Cancels Remaining Podcast and Fires Staff
In late January 2019, BuzzFeed fired 200 staff across the company and cancelled the remaining podcast, Thirst Aid Kit.
January 18, 2019: Mueller's office disputes BuzzFeed report
On January 18, 2019, Robert Mueller's office disputed a BuzzFeed report stating that Trump instructed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, characterizing the report as "not accurate".
January 23, 2019: BuzzFeed Announces Workforce Reduction
On January 23, 2019, BuzzFeed notified all employees via memo that there would be an upcoming 15% reduction in workforce, affecting the international, web content, and news divisions of the company, impacting approximately 200 employees.
February 2019: BuzzFeed News votes to unionize
In February 2019, following major layoffs, BuzzFeed News voted to unionize. A dispute between BuzzFeed's upper executives and the union began when the executives failed to show up to a meeting.
July 2019: BuzzFeed announces employee union recognition
In July 2019 BuzzFeed announced that it would voluntarily recognize an employee union.
December 2019: Tasty's Facebook following reaches 100 million
As of December 2019, BuzzFeed's video series on comfort food, Tasty, had 100 million followers on Facebook.
2019: Steven Lim leaves BuzzFeed
In 2019, Steven Lim, star of Tasty's sponsored show Worth It, left BuzzFeed to start his own production company Watcher.
2019: Bergara and Madej start Watcher Entertainment
In late 2019, Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej started their own digital production company, Watcher Entertainment, with Worth It's Steven Lim; however, the two continued collaborating with BuzzFeed to produce BuzzFeed Unsolved.
March 25, 2020: BuzzFeed Announces Salary Cuts Due to COVID-19
On March 25, 2020, BuzzFeed announced in an internal memo that it would cut employee salaries on a sliding scale due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jonah Peretti said he would not be taking a salary until the end of the pandemic.
May 13, 2020: BuzzFeed Shuts Down Divisions in UK and Australia
On May 13, 2020, BuzzFeed shut down its divisions in the UK and Australia, furloughing staff in both locations.
June 2020: Ryan Broderick fired for plagiarism
In June 2020, BuzzFeed News senior reporter Ryan Broderick was fired after it was revealed he had "plagiarized or misattributed information in at least 11 of his articles."
November 19, 2020: BuzzFeed to Acquire HuffPost
On November 19, 2020, BuzzFeed announced that they would acquire HuffPost in a stock deal that made Verizon Media minority shareholder in BuzzFeed.
2020: BuzzFeed Signs Deal with Universal Television
In 2020, BuzzFeed signed a deal with Universal Television to produce content based on its stories.
2020: "Tasty" streams Saturday Night Seder
In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, "Tasty" streamed the Saturday Night Seder, an online Passover Seder that featured many celebrities and benefited the CDC Foundation.
June 2021: BuzzFeed Plans to Go Public and Acquire Complex Networks
In June 2021, BuzzFeed announced its plans to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and planned to acquire Complex Networks.
June 24, 2021: BuzzFeed to Go Public and Acquire Complex Networks
According to a news report from June 24, 2021, BuzzFeed, valued at $1.5 billion through a SPAC deal, is to go public and acquire Complex Networks for $300 million.
September 1, 2021: BuzzFeed Video's YouTube Channel Statistics
As of September 1, 2021, BuzzFeed Video's YouTube channel had garnered more than 17.4 billion views and more than 20.3 million subscribers.
November 2021: Bergara and Madej end collaboration with BuzzFeed
In November 2021, Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej ended their collaboration with BuzzFeed to produce BuzzFeed Unsolved.
December 2021: BuzzFeed Public Listing
BuzzFeed's December 2021 public listing was done to finance acquisitions.
2021: Animation Lab projects reach 17 million followers
As of 2021, four successful projects from BuzzFeed's Animation Lab (Weird Helga, The Good Advice Cupcake, The Land of Boggs, and Chikn Nuggit) had a combined total of over 17 million followers.
2021: BuzzFeed News Wins Awards
By 2021, BuzzFeed News had won the National Magazine Award, the George Polk Award, and the Pulitzer Prize, and was nominated for the Michael Kelly Award, recognizing its investment in investigative journalism.
2021: BuzzFeed Raises $16.2M in Funding Round
In 2021, BuzzFeed raised $16.2M in its latest Post IPO funding round held on Dec 03, 2021.
2021: BuzzFeed wins Pulitzer Prize for series on Xinjiang internment camps
In 2021, BuzzFeed won a Pulitzer Prize in the international reporting category for an investigative series about the Xinjiang internment camps.
March 2022: BuzzFeed News Editors Resign, Face Job Cuts
In March 2022, three top BuzzFeed News editors announced their resignation, and the newsroom faced voluntary layoffs or job cuts after BuzzFeed investors encouraged Jonah Peretti to shut down all of BuzzFeed News.
September 23, 2022: Ghost Files released by Watcher Entertainment
On September 23, 2022, Watcher Entertainment released Ghost Files, a documentary entertainment web series by Watcher Entertainment, that is the spiritual successor to BuzzFeed Unsolved.
April 20, 2023: BuzzFeed News to Shut Down
On April 20, 2023, Jonah Peretti announced that BuzzFeed would be shuttering BuzzFeed News and focusing its news efforts into HuffPost, laying off about 180 workers.
May 2023: Nasdaq Delisting Notice
In May 2023, BuzzFeed received a delisting notice from Nasdaq after its share price fell below $1, requiring them to raise the share price above $1 within 180 days.
November 2023: Further Delisting Extension
In November 2023, after the initial deadline passed with the stock price still below $1, BuzzFeed was given a further 180 days until May 2024 to raise its stock price.
January 2024: Stock Price Decline
By January 2024, BuzzFeed's stock price had declined 98% since its initial listing, with the entire company now worth around $37 million, burdened with debt.
January 2024: Animation Lab layoffs lead to cancellations
In January 2024, a lot of the Animation Lab team were laid off (including Loryn Brantz), leading to the cancellations of Weird Helga and The Good Advice Cupcake.
February 2024: BuzzFeed Sells Complex to NTWRK, Considers Selling Tasty
In February 2024, BuzzFeed announced the sale of Complex to NTWRK, a livestream shopping platform, and considered selling Tasty, a social media food brand. The company also announced layoffs.
May 2024: Reverse Stock Split
In May 2024, BuzzFeed implemented a 4:1 reverse stock split, bringing them above the $1 a share threshold.
May 2024: Vivek Ramaswamy Acquires Stake in BuzzFeed
In May 2024, activist investor Vivek Ramaswamy acquired a 7.7% stake in BuzzFeed, making him the fourth-largest shareholder, which he later increased to 8.37%.
July 2024: BuzzFeed Sells Bring Me!
In July 2024, BuzzFeed sold the travel brand Bring Me! to media publisher LOST iN.
December 2024: BuzzFeed Sells First We Feast
In December 2024, BuzzFeed sold First We Feast, which produces the show Hot Ones, for $82.5 million to a consortium of Investors.
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