\n<\/p>\n
Jonah Peretti\u2019s career to date has been defined by constant reinvention. As the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed<\/a>, Peretti has been at the forefront of digital media for almost two decades, navigating changes as the once small startup transformed into, at one point, a multimedia powerhouse. <\/p>\n But as the company grows older, one question lingers: Has Peretti\u2019s relentless drive for innovation made him too entrepreneurial to lead BuzzFeed to long-term stability?<\/p>\n \u201cThe nice thing about this field,\u201d Peretti muses, \u201cis you do something [different] all the time. It\u2019s not been 20 years of one job. It\u2019s been 20 years of running a startup, then managing a hyperscaling business, then figuring out how to get the company public . . .and now the explosion in generative AI. There\u2019s always something to keep the job fresh and new.\u201d<\/p>\n Peretti\u2019s ability to adapt and stay ahead of the curve has been a hallmark of BuzzFeed\u2019s success. Years ago, BuzzFeed enjoyed almost singular success in its uncanny ability to create shareable media. (One video segment, centered on why Disney princes would make \u201cterrible boyfriends,\u201d has racked up 77 million views over the years.)<\/p>\n Today, BuzzFeed\u2019s focus is on AI, including AI quizzes and other AI-generated content<\/a>. It\u2019s also pouring some of its resources into a product in development called BF Island, a social network that aims to merge AI with content creation to \u201cspread joy and enable playful creative expression.\u201d So he told Axios last month, anyway.<\/p>\n Peretti routinely discusses the company\u2019s upcoming ventures with the media<\/a>, even when they\u2019re still in their infancy. Asked why, he tells TechCrunch: \u201cThe idea of talking about things you\u2019re working on is that you make the product better . . .When you talk about them, it\u2019s not just with your team but with outside people who might want to collaborate. When there\u2019s a new computing platform, there\u2019s an explosion of creativity. Those are the moments when you can build something new.\u201d<\/p>\n This entrepreneurial drive has fueled much of BuzzFeed\u2019s most iconic projects. The company pioneered viral quizzes and listicles, then pivoted to more serious journalism with BuzzFeed News. But not all of these shifts have paid off. Notably, despite its early success, BuzzFeed News was shuttered<\/a> in 2023, leaving behind questions about whether the company should have stuck to one clear vision rather than jumping between them.<\/p>\n BuzzFeed\u2019s shareholders might be pondering the same after the roller-coaster ride they\u2019ve been on. BuzzFeed went public through a special purpose vehicle in 2021, and as part of the transaction, it acquired a media company, Complex Networks, for $300 million in cash and stock. Today, BuzzFeed still trades publicly, but it doesn\u2019t own that business; it sold it for roughly $108 million<\/a> last year. More recently, BuzzFeed sold another asset from that Complex Networks deal \u2013 First We Feast \u2013 in a separate $82.5 million<\/a> all-cash deal. (Explains Peretti of both sales, \u201cThey\u2019re not so much tech businesses. They\u2019re more production and talent heavy.\u201d)<\/p>\n BuzzFeed\u2019s stock, priced at $10 initially, now trades $2.20 per share.<\/p>\n This is where the tension lies. Peretti\u2019s embrace of constant reinvention is striking, but it also means that the company\u2019s strategy has often felt like a series of experiments rather than a cohesive long-term plan. The experiments also come at a cost. Peretti says BF Island is a $10 million gamble for now that is not expected to bring in any revenue this year. He adds that BuzzFeed\u2019s \u201ccore business\u201d is profitable.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a fair question whether BuzzFeed would be better served by a singular, consistent vision for the future \u2013 like The New York Times has managed to achieve \u2013 rather than betting on one new idea after another. <\/p>\n Unfortunately, it\u2019s hard to know the answer. The media industry has long favored stability, but Peretti isn\u2019t wrong to believe the current wave of generative AI is revolutionizing how people create and share content. Also, as excited as he sounds about the possibilities, Peretti sounds clear-eyed about the risks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big thing is that BuzzFeed has given us a lot of experience with new formats,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten a lot of inbound from people who have ideas and want to collaborate with us.\u201d <\/p>\n Besides, adds Peretti, who by now is accustomed to balancing growth with financial pressures: \u201cI think the deeper next-level understanding is that just doing the same thing over and over again and trying to to grind it out is actually a more risky strategy than innovating, experimenting, trying new things, keeping an open mind, and trying to figure out new approaches or new ways to win in a really tough market.\u201d<\/p>\n You can hear much more from our interview with Peretti in an upcoming episode of StrictlyVC Download<\/a>; new episodes drop every Tuesday.<\/em><\/p>\n