- In a deal uniting two digital media pioneers searching for fresh traction in a struggling market, BuzzFeed said Thursday it was acquiring HuffPost.
In a deal uniting two digital media pioneers searching for fresh traction in a struggling market, BuzzFeed said Thursday it was acquiring HuffPost.
According to a statement from the companies, the agreement allows BuzzFeed to take over HuffPost from Verizon Media’s parent company and use material from other Verizon properties, including Yahoo.
It also makes Verizon a minority shareholder in BuzzFeed, with the two companies agreeing to content and advertisement strategic relationship.
The contract also entails an arrangement between the two firms to syndicate content while partnering on ads and forming a joint innovation group to explore other opportunities for monetization.
As BuzzFeed’s press release notes, since BuzzFeed co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti was also one of the founders of what was originally known as The Huffington Post, this deal brings HuffPost full circle.
“In its early years, I have vivid memories of growing HuffPost into a major news outlet, but BuzzFeed is making this acquisition because we believe in HuffPost’s future and the potential it has for years to come to continue to define the media landscape,” Peretti said in a statement. With the addition of HuffPost, our media network would have more users than all of our rivals, spending far more time on our news.
AOL acquired The Huffington Post for $315 million nearly a decade ago, just a few months after it acquired TechCrunch.
The acquisition has seen a major move into the world of journalism and digital media, but there have been a series of corporate changes since then, with AOL subsequently acquired by Verizon, Verizon also acquiring Yahoo then rebranding the combined organization first as Oath and then as Verizon Media (which still owns TechCrunch). Tim Armstrong, the executive behind the acquisition, left the company in 2018.
Over the years, there have been on-and-off reports of a HuffPost deal. Guru Gowrappan, CEO of Verizon Media, said last year that the firm was not selling HuffPost” because it was so central to our content.”
A new editor-in-chief at HuffPost is still looking for BuzzFeed. Since Lydia Polgreen departed in March, the place has been vacant.
