Vivek Ramaswamy, after dropping out of the Republican presidential primary race, has turned his attention to shaking up struggling media company BuzzFeed — and he’s pushing a right-turn pivot for the company.
In a filing last week, Ramaswamy disclosed that he amassed 7.7% of BuzzFeed’s stock. In a letter dated May 27 to BuzzFeed’s board of directors, he said he now holds a 8.37% stake in the company “and I continue to increase my position.”
“BuzzFeed has lost its way,” he wrote in the letter. “I own your stock because I believe BuzzFeed can still become a more valuable company than at its initial listing, but this requires a major shift in strategy.”
Among other things, Ramaswamy recommended that BuzzFeed hire talent from “across the political and cultural spectrum” including right-wing commentators such as Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Aaron Rodgers. In the 2,344-word letter, Ramaswamy also said BuzzFeed should “retain only the resources required to create and monetize BuzzFeed’s highest-value content,” which “will almost certainly require large-scale headcount reductions.”
Popular on PvNew
Ramaswamy — who has called the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol an “inside job” facilitated by federal law enforcement and, among other things, promoted the bizarre conspiracy theory that Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, were somehow in cahoots with President Bidenand that the Super Bowl was being rigged — said BuzzFeed should “Distinguish yourself from competitors by openly admitting your past journalistic failures and redefine BuzzFeed’s brand around the pursuit of truth.” As supposed examples of “journalistic failures,” he cited reports by BuzzFeed News (which the company shut down last year) such as the Steele Dossier, “an unvetted, unverified opposition research document that was full of false and salacious information that spawned the wasteful Mueller investigation and divided our country for years.”
In the letter, Ramaswamy said he has identified “three high-profile directors, with strong track business records in new media, who have expressed interest in joining your board to help navigate this strategic pivot” and that he “urge[d] you to add these directors to your board by July 15.” He did not identify them.
In an emailed response to Ramaswamy obtained by PvNew, BuzzFeed chairman and CEO Jonah Peretti said, “based on your letter, you have some fundamental misunderstandings about the drivers of our business, the values of our audience, and the mission of the company. I’m very skeptical it makes business sense to turn BuzzFeed into a creator platform for inflammatory political pundits. And we’re definitely not going to issue an apology for our Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism.”
Peretti continued, “That said, I welcome outside perspectives from shareholders and am open to hearing more from you.”
Ramaswamy posted his full letter on X. He argued that “time is of the essence” for BuzzFeed to act because the company “faces a nonzero risk of bankruptcy in December 2024” given that it has more than $100 million in outstanding debt and $61.5 million in cash while it posted a Q1 2024 loss of $26 million on a declining revenue base.
One of the biggest problems with BuzzFeed is its lack of a brand identity, according to Ramaswamy. “Today BuzzFeed is a random amalgamation of media properties with no distinctive brand or strategy that ties them together,” he wrote. Ramaswamy said BuzzFeed should hire “top content creators” for lower base salaries while giving them “uncapped upside in what they generate.”
“This win-win talent model is a great way for BuzzFeed to expand rapidly without massive CapEx,” he wrote. “Go for talents across the political and cultural spectrum. Be bold. Don’t be afraid to challenge your audiences. From Candace Owens to Destiny, Tucker Carlson to Bill Maher, Aaron Rodgers to Charles Barkley, no talent should be off-limits to platform, hire, or acqui-hire.” Ramaswamy added, “The good news is you already have a template for how to take advantage of this opportunity: ‘First We Feast’ is an unqualified success, with break-out hit ‘Hot Ones’ generating millions of views per episode, not to mention cultural relevance.”
After BuzzFeed’s stock price jumped last week on the disclosure Ramaswamy’s ownership stake of NBCUniversal sold $10.1 million worth of the company’s shares, cutting its holdings from 15% to 5.68% of outstanding shares. In early 2023, NBCU had sold $28.3 million in BuzzFeed stock.
Ramaswamy, who amassed his wealth in finance and pharmaceutical industries, in January 2024 dropped out of the 2024 GOP presidential contest and endorsed Donald Trump, saying he would support Trump even if the former president was convicted of felonies.
