The latest round up of people moves include Buzzfeed, Havas Media, and Bauer Media Outdoor.
Buzzfeed announced plans to reduce its headcount by 35% across its brands, which include HuffPost and Tasty. This is expected to be around 175 of its 500 staff.
“Today we are making important changes to BuzzFeed that are required to put our business on a path to profitable and sustainable growth,” said a memo to staff from the BuzzFeed leadership team.
“We’ve been actively managing costs for some time, working through scenarios to save as many jobs as possible. Unfortunately, the elimination of certain roles is still required. Today’s changes include the elimination of positions across the entire company,” read the memo seen by Deadline.
This comes just two months after Allen Family Digital – affiliate of Byron Allen’s family office – closed a deal to acquire a majority stake in the publisher, with Byron Allen becoming chair and chief executive officer.
Allen’s portfolio is set to be leveraged with BuzzFeed’s tens of millions of direct monthly visitors. This includes Local Now, a streaming platform for local news, weather, traffic, sports, and entertainment, as well as a network of 650 free ad-supported streaming tv (FAST) channels, roughly 400 local broadcast affiliates, and 30,000 films, TV shows, and documentaries.
“The reduction in workforce plan is intended to advance the company’s path towards profitability and positive cash flow generation by streamlining its organizational structure, optimising operating expenses, and preserving cash,” BuzzFeed said in an SEC filing Monday.
Other notable people moves
Disney: Almost 100 staff laid off
Disney is set to lay off just under 100 staff, primarily affecting its Pixar and National Geographic divisions. This will also reportedly impact ABC News staff, and will have isolated cuts in other entertainment divisions.
Havas: Paul Bland as chief performance officer
Paul Bland has been named as chief performance officer for Havas Media Network.
Bland joined Havas in 2021 as head of biddable media, and later became chief digital officer. He previously held roles at Dentsu, MediaCom, and Equimedia.
Bauer Media Outdoor: Ajoy Nath joins
Bauer Media Outdoor has hired Ajoy Nath as DSP partnership manager.
Nath previously held positions at Yahoo as senior buyer development partner and Financial Times as digital and programmatic advertising manager EMEA.
Lucky Generals: Head of social impact exits
Lameya Chaudhury, Lucky Generals’ head of social impact, has departed the company after Omnicom’s restructure.
“When I joined, I thought I was building a social impact function. What we actually built was something far more ambitious: proof that creativity has a role to play in shifting how power engages with the biggest challenges facing us,” she wrote on LinkedIn.
ISBA: Director of communications departs
The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers’ (ISBA) director of communications, Abi Slater, has left her position after nine years in the role.
Slater is set to go freelance, offering executive communications support within the marketing, advertising and media industry.
Simon Michaelides, ISBA’s director general, said: “Abi has been an integral part of the team for nine years, during which the organisation went from strength to strength. She can be very proud of the reputation for boldness and authority that she helped to build for ISBA.”
Unbound: Giles Dill as head of studio
Independent creative agency, Unbound, has promoted Giles Dill to head of studio. Dill will oversee all studio output, deployment of a creative AI tool, and everything from design to editing.
Austin Hamilton has also been appointed creative partner. He has been a freelance writer and creative director for Unbound since January.
VML UK: New CMO hired
Cat Davis has been hired as chief marketing officer for global creative agency, VML UK.
Davis joins from Atomic London, where she served as the agency’s first chief marketing officer.
