The media outlet that caused outrage across America for publishing the entire phony Steele Dossier that accused former President Donald Trump of numerous crimes, BuzzFeed News, has shut down. CEO Jonah Peretti told employees in a memo:
“While layoffs are occurring across nearly every division, we’ve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization. I overinvested in BuzzFeed News because I love their work and mission so much.
“This made me slow to accept that the big platforms wouldn’t provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism purpose-build for social media.
“Please know that we exhausted many other cost savings measures to preserve as many jobs as possible.
“I’ve learned from these mistakes, and the team moving forward has learned from them as well.
“We know that the changes and improvements we are making today are necessary steps to building a better future.”
According to Axios in 2021:
BuzzFeed News, which made waves in 2017 by publishing the entire dossier, says it has no plans to take the document down. It’s still online, accompanied by a note that says “The allegations are unverified, and the report contains errors.”
From CNBC in March 2022:
BuzzFeed is shrinking its money-losing news organization, the company announced Tuesday, amid what people familiar with the matter describe as broader investor concern that the division is weighing down the company.
Several large shareholders have urged BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti to shut down the entire news operation, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. BuzzFeed declined to comment.
BuzzFeed’s stock closed over 6% higher at $5.27 on Tuesday.
BuzzFeed News, which is part of its content division, has about 100 employees and loses roughly $10 million a year, two of the people said.
BREAKING: BuzzFeed, the digital media company which gained notoriety for publishing the now-debunked Steele Dossier, is being shut down, according to a memo from BuzzFeed Inc. CEO Jonah Peretti. The dossier was funded by @HillaryClinton campaign and used to push the discredited… pic.twitter.com/3WfNwTCZ9s
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) April 20, 2023
BREAKING: BuzzFeed news is shutting down. @peretti’s memo: pic.twitter.com/k3vGnHOkcl
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) April 20, 2023