BuzzFeed Sheds Assets. Now It Should Go Private, Experts Say

The digital media company BuzzFeed successfully sold its food property, First We Feast, to a consortium of investors Thursday morning for $82.5 million, effectively solving the short-term financial crunch that it had been facing.

But the spin-off still leaves BuzzFeed facing an uncertain future. 

The divestiture specifically casts a spotlight on HuffPost—the last acquired asset in the BuzzFeed portfolio—and what kind of role it could play moving forward for the company. 

It also raises the question of whether BuzzFeed should remain a publicly traded company. The publisher has shed several of its holdings and is now a substantially smaller business than when it entered the public markets.

“This is the unwinding of their entire thesis for going public,” said media analyst Brian Morrissey. “Their premise was that they would bulk up and become the bellwether digital publishing company of the sector, and clearly that has not worked.” 

BuzzFeed did not respond to a request for comment.

Private or public

BuzzFeed joined the public markets in December 2021 through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company. As part of the transaction, it also acquired Complex Networks for $198 million in cash.

Three years later, BuzzFeed remains a public company, but it no longer owns either Complex or First We Feast. 

Its stock, whose price it artificially bolstered in May through a reverse split, is trading at roughly $4 per share—still down from its initial IPO offering of $10. The situation has left BuzzFeed a considerably smaller company than it was when it went public, with a total market capitalization of $153 million. 

As such, it makes little sense for it to remain publicly traded, especially given the additional operating costs for public compliance, according to JEGI Clarity managing director Bob Berstein.

“It’s not sustainable,” Berstein said. “They’re never going to grow into being a big business, and they tried the acquisition route, and that didn’t work.”

Sam Thompson, founding partner of the venture firm Progress Ventures, echoed the idea.

“If I were them, I think they’re better as a private business,” Thompson said.