Media: BuzzFeed's Drooping Market Cap (BZFD)

What they need is another Steele Dossier, that got people clicking. 

Or more money from cornerstone investors NBC Universal and Andreessen Horowitz.

From Britain's Press Gazette, November 23/25:

Prompted by its drooping market cap, Press Gazette pieced together a longer picture of the publisher's health.

Buzzfeed’s share price has continued to slide following its third quarter results last week, which showed time spent with its brands had declined one-third in a year.

Buzzfeed Inc’s market capitalisation at market close on Tuesday 22 November was $164m (£138m).

That is approximately 11% of the $1.5bn (£1.3bn) valuation the company received in June 2021 ahead of its public listing, and less than a tenth of the $1.7bn valuation the business received at the height of its influence in 2016, before it began purchasing other media companies.

The company, which last year bought both digital news operation Huffpost and youth entertainment outlet Complex Networks, has only been profitable in two quarters over the last two years. It started this year worth $700m.

Following on from the results last week, Press Gazette took a look at Buzzfeed’s previous SEC filings to piece together a longer picture of the publisher’s health.

Time spent with Buzzfeed has fallen continuously this year
Buzzfeed reported in its third quarter results last week that time spent with its content was down markedly, dropping a third year-on-year. A look at its results for the intervening quarters shows that the decline has been continuous, with total time spent dropping each quarter since Q3 2021....

....MUCH MORE

Well, they can always go back to listicles.

I thought there was hope when Buzzfeed pivoted from the Steele dossier to dildos. But no.

So, we'll always treasure the Buzzfeed style guide and "The Wolf of Buzzfeed.

Some prior visits to BuzzFeed:
Hey, Did You Know BuzzFeed Was Publicly Traded?

*****

Looking back there were signs, like when you are getting sued and plaintiff's counsel decides to ridicule you in their response to your motion to dismiss and the court allows it:

Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Best Court Filing This Week: Libel Case Against BuzzFeed Edition
From the

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT  SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA  MIAMI DIVISION

ALEKSEJ GUBAREV, XBT HOLDINGS S.A., and WEBZILLA, INC. Plaintiffs,
v.
BUZZFEED, INC. and BEN SMITH Defendants.

Case No. 0:17-cv-60426-UU

SIX WAYS BUZZFEED HAS MISLED THE COURT 
(NUMBER TWO WILL AMAZE YOU) ... 
 AND A PICTURE OF A KITTEN 

In a somewhat remarkable Motion to Dismiss, Plaintiffs Buzzfeed, Inc. (“Buzzfeed”) and Ben Smith (“Mr. Smith”) intimate that their ties to Florida are so sparse that, collectively, they can barely find Florida on a map and that, as a result, the present case should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction or transferred to the Southern District of New York....

....MORE

 

Regarding the Steele Dossier, three days after BuzzFeed broke the story and a week before Trump's inauguration we posted "Eugene Volokh on Libel Law: "When ‘there is serious reason to doubt’ rumors and allegations, is it libelous to publish them?"with this introduction:

More Just as importantly, after reading the schlocky, amateur, borderline retarded "35 pages" thing, how could anyone ever again justify paying Orbis Business Intelligence actual money for anything they produce?

Possibly also of interest:
Buzzfeed Story Generator

 

Finally, Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed, 2011 to 2020, saw the writing on the wall and went to the NYT where he was a media columnist for a couple years. Most recently he is co-founder of Semafor, which he formed with Bloomberg's Justin Smith in early 2022.