BuzzFeed will not be the primary media model of its classic to undertake this method. Vice Media, which additionally encapsulated the froth of digital media within the final decade, has pivoted from an online and text-based enterprise to a producer of video content material. The upside of such a technique may be diminished, however so too are the dangers.
Of course, embracing such a streaming-centric playbook will naturally entail a considerable restructuring. Allen has already warned that layoffs are on the horizon.Â
And whereas BuzzFeed has a protracted historical past of launching common franchises, HuffPost has a much less established report on that entrance. News is a extra saturated ecosystem than authentic programming, and HuffPost would possibly wrestle to compete with its blue-chip friends within the area.
For Allen, the acquisition is a comparatively low-stakes gambit. The deal stipulates that he, via his holding firm Allen Family Digital, solely has to pay $20 million for his 52% possession stake at the moment. The remainder of the $100 million shall be paid over a five-year time horizon.Â
This means Allen will get the BuzzFeed, Tasty, and HuffPost manufacturers—and, extra importantly, their YouTube footprints—for about as a lot cash as Valnet paid for Polygon or Ziff Davis paid for Dwell, Domino, Business of Home, and PopSci.Â
The backside strains of those firms have sagged lately, however they’ve name-brand recognition and YouTube followings within the tens of thousands and thousands. If Allen can efficiently reorient these firms into video companies, count on to see extra such acquisitions within the close to future.