BuzzFeed Furloughs 68 Staffers Without Pay, Extends Salary Cuts Through End Of 2020

Sixty-eight BuzzFeed staffers will be furloughed without pay through mid-August, CEO Jonah Peretti told the company today.

In a staff memo obtained by Variety, Peretti–who in late March announced he would not be taking a salary “until we are on the other side” of the COVID-19 pandemic–said the dropoff in revenue has been steeper than expected, and that BuzzFeed is currently hoping to keep losses under $20 million for the year.

“I’ve made the very difficult decision to furlough 68 employees beginning May 16th,” Peretti wrote. “In the U.S., the furlough will last for 3 months. During this period, these employees won’t work and won’t be paid.”

BuzzFeed will continue providing health coverage to furloughed employees, and will “pay out all accrued unused vacation days […] which will provide extra cash to most impacted employees,” he added.

Staffers affected include folks across BuzzFeed’s business, studio, and administration teams in the U.S. and U.K. (BuzzFeed has around 1,450 employees total in 18 offices around the world.) For now, the BuzzFeed News team is unaffected, but Peretti wrote that the company plans to start negotiations with NewsGuild of New York, the labor union that represents the News staff, “about the need to reduce costs in News,” so it appears cuts in that sector may be imminent.

In addition to the furloughs, BuzzFeed will extend the sliding scale pay cuts it introduced in March through the end of the year. That means employees who make between $40,000 and $64,999 annually will continue with a 5% cut; those who make $65,000-$89,999 will continue with a 7% cut; $90,000-$124,999, a 9% cut; $125,000-$169,999, an 11% cut; $170,000-$224,999, a 12% cut; and $225,000 and up, a 13% cut.

The company’s most senior executives will continue with cuts of between 14% and 25%. All freelancers and contractors, meanwhile, have had their rates cut by 8%.

Other measures BuzzFeed is taking to mitigate COVID-19 losses include subleasing its Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., offices, closing 50 previously posted job openings in content and tech departments, and potentially suspending its 401(k) matching program through December, per Variety.

Separately, BuzzFeed revealed yesterday that it has hired Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Mark Schoofs as a replacement for BuzzFeed News’ founding editor-in-chief, Ben Smith, who left in January to become a columnist at The New York Times.