BuzzFeed laid off dozens of employees on Friday inside its prized news division as the media organization restructures to grapple with the tumultuous digital news landscape.
“It’s a slaughter,” one employee, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told CNN Business.
The entire national desk, which produced some of BuzzFeed News’ most illustrious feature reporting, was cut. The health desk was also slashed, and the national security desk was disbanded. The website’s LGBT desk, an area of coverage in which BuzzFeed News had invested significant resources, was left with only one staffer. The entertainment team also suffered some cuts. Internationally, BuzzFeed News’ offices in Spain were closed.
Some of BuzzFeed News’ longest serving employees were affected. John Stanton, a senior national correspondent and the former BuzzFeed News DC bureau chief, was laid off. Michael Rusch, the website’s global news curation director who helped build BuzzFeed News’ social accounts into powerhouses, said he too was let go.
In total, 43 people were let go on Friday from BuzzFeed News, a spokesperson for the company told CNN Business. A person familiar with the layoffs said that the cuts to the newsroom had almost no impact on the politics, investigation, tech, and culture teams.
Ben Smith, the editor in chief of BuzzFeed News, said in an email to staff that it was a “hard day” and that the organization was “losing a lot of excellent colleagues.”
“We’ll do our best to support the people who are leaving and to help them in any way we can going forward,” Smith wrote.
