A $120 million deal will give BuzzFeed a new owner — and a new CEO

It’s hard to imagine what BuzzFeed looks like without Jonah Peretti at the helm, but we’re about to find out.

Peretti’s tenure as the CEO of the Millennial-coded media company he co-founded has come to an end. Byron Allen, a comedian-turned-media mogul whose holdings include The Weather Channel and a multitude of local TV stations, will be the next exec to steer the BuzzFeed ship.

Allen Family Digital, an arm of Allen’s sprawling media empire, has acquired a controlling stake in BuzzFeed. Allen will pay $120 million to pick up 52% of the 19-year-old company. Peretti will stay on board as BuzzFeed’s President of Artificial Intelligence.

BuzzFeed was once a leading brand on the internet, pioneering concepts like listicles, viral marketing, and digital publishing. The media company was once so powerful that it reportedly received a $650 million acquisition offer from Disney, which Peretti turned down.

That, however, was a different time. Amid an increasingly competitive media environment, BuzzFeed has endured multiple rounds of layoffs while also watching its roster of in-house talent winnow.

To stay afloat, BuzzFeed jettisoned several of its subsidiaries. NTWRK paid $108 million to buy the pop culture publication Complex, and Hot Ones home First We Feast sold for $82.5 million. The latest deal will help BuzzFeed negotiate its debt while giving Allen another property he can mold into a multiplatform entertainment and news brand.

Allen plans to turn BuzzFeed into a player in fields like streaming, user-generated content, and (through its subsidiary HuffPost) local news. “As of this moment, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube and the other big tech platforms,” Allen said on a conference call.

When Allen is done refashioning BuzzFeed as a YouTube competitor, will it still resemble its most famous incarnation? And does that even matter? Under Peretti’s leadership, BuzzFeed developed a production style everybody wanted to mimic and built a talent roster everybody wanted to hire. Without those idiosyncrasies in place, BuzzFeed looks indistinguishable from any other generic media company.

Perhaps Peretti himself can provide the spark that will help Allen achieve his goals for BuzzFeed. As President of Artificial Intelligence, Peretti will be able to continue developing the AI-powered games and love stories that have served as the latest chapters in BuzzFeed’s offbeat history.

Some of Peretti’s more eccentric ideas may end up falling by the wayside. But if Allen wants to get the most out of his new acquisition, he should consider its legacy — and the man who built it.