1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,720 Speaker 1: Already and this this is the Daily This is the 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense. 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday, 4 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 2: the eighteenth of March. I'm Zara Seidler, I'm Sam Kauzlowski. 5 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 2: Last week, BuzzFeed, once the biggest youth media company in 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 2: the world, announce that there is substantial doubt that it 7 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 2: can keep operating as a business. It comes off the 8 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,520 Speaker 2: back of years of losses for the company best known 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 2: for its listicles and quizzes. In today's podcast, we're going 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,520 Speaker 2: to explain the origins of BuzzFeed, the rise and fall 11 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 2: of it, and why its future is now in jeopardy. 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 2: Just before we jump into today's deep dive, we would 13 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 2: be so appreciative if you could take one minute, I 14 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 2: promise it's one minute out of your morning to fill 15 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 2: out a short survey for us. It will help us 16 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 2: continue to learn, continue to grow, and make the content 17 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 2: that you love. We have thrown the link in today's 18 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 2: show notes. Thank you in advance. Now onto today's deep dive. 19 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: Zara, what an interesting topic for us to talk about. 20 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: Another youth media company that is in some trouble and 21 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 1: kind of one of the examples that you and I 22 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: have always looked to in trying to build a youth company. 23 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: In twenty twenty six. 24 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 2: We did say when we were discussing the name of 25 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 2: this podcast today that we would have to say the 26 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 2: downfall of the biggest youth media company in the world 27 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 2: in brackets, not TDA. 28 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: No, And I think there's a couple of factual inaccuracies 29 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: with that. If we're where the reference TDA, we're not 30 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: quite the biggest in the world yet, but we're the 31 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: biggest in the person's is listening now. 32 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 2: Mind, Now that's all that matters. 33 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 1: Really, Why don't we go back and take a look 34 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: at what BuzzFeed is because we're not just going to 35 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: presume that everyone knows this quite iconic youth media company. Yeah. 36 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 2: So BuzzFeed was started in two thousand and six in 37 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 2: the US and it positioned itself as home to the 38 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 2: best of the Internet. Founder Jonah Peretti also founded the 39 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 2: Huffington Post, and he says that he created you know what, 40 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 2: I'm actually going to stop. Why do you think he 41 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 2: created BuzzFeed? 42 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: I think it was the explosion of web traffic. It 43 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,079 Speaker 1: was just, you know, so much content out there that 44 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: he was looking for a place to put it all. 45 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 2: Okay, kind of is that the business like you get 46 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 2: like a half mark. It was a side hustle, which 47 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 2: we know very well, where he could experiment to understand 48 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 2: why things go viral interesting. So essentially the entire idea 49 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 2: behind it was understanding what algorithmically led to virality. That 50 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 2: was a lot of buzzwords in one sentence. 51 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, and he was a visionary because a year later 52 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: Facebook launched Crazy Yeah, and so that gave BuzzFeed really 53 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: the core of its success. 54 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 2: Yeah. And at the beginning, it didn't employ any writers 55 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 2: or editors. It said it was just an algorithm to 56 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,399 Speaker 2: cull stories from around the web that were showing stirrings 57 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 2: of virality. So the early writings of BuzzFeed around that 58 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 2: time that it was trying to build a media technology 59 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 2: company rather than traditional media outline, Like it wasn't looking 60 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 2: to at that point be like a huge news breaker. 61 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 2: I was trying to understand the technology behind virality. Now, 62 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 2: over the years, it became known for its online quizzes 63 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 2: and listical. 64 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 1: Which Disney Princess Are You is like the go. 65 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 2: To what are you? 66 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: Sad Jasmine obviously, so this is a media company that 67 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: kind of excelled in that exact format. 68 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 2: That hadn't been done really before and until that addictive. 69 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: I mean, anyone who's listening, yeah, will have to go 70 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: inside their deepest, darkest parts of their soul and acknowledge 71 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: that those types of online quizzes are always clickable and popular. 72 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 2: But I mean, so, I guess just to close out 73 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 2: what it was that BuzzFeed was, So, it was those listicals, 74 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 2: it was online quizzes, but then it also became a 75 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 2: news company as well. So in twenty eleven, BuzzFeed hired 76 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 2: an editor in chief. That editor in chief interestingly has 77 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 2: gone to create his own company, but that's irrelevant today. 78 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 2: At that time, BuzzFeed expanded into long form journalism, created 79 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 2: BuzzFeed News. That news division ended up winning a whole 80 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 2: heap of journalism prizes. It broke really significant stories. I 81 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 2: was looking at some of the stories it broke. There 82 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 2: was a really significant one about the Weiger community in China. 83 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: They used satellite images for the first time, I think, yeah, yeah. 84 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 2: And they were also the outlet that first reported the 85 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 2: sexual assault allegations against Kevin Spacey, the. 86 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: Ashta interesting and the other big story I associate with 87 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: them is did you ever see the mini series about 88 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: the rise and fall of Uber? Yeah, so they broke 89 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 1: the big kind of here's what's happening inside Uber that's 90 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,239 Speaker 1: not quite what it seems kind of story. Yeah, yeah, 91 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: really big stories there. I mean, that's a very I mean, 92 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: imagine if TDA broke those sorts of stories and did 93 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: the Saturday Quiz. It's a whole mix of different types 94 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: of different types of journalism, which clearly worked very. 95 00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 2: Well during that time. 96 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And so it had these massive highs, and 97 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: I think the reason we're talking about it today is 98 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: some very new and low lows. Talk me through the 99 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: financials of the company. 100 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, So in twenty twelve, BuzzFeed was really at its peak. 101 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 2: This is when we were at school, and I think 102 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 2: you're it was just everywhere, like it was ubiquitous. A 103 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 2: year earlier, it had surpassed one hundred million dollars in 104 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 2: revenue US dollars US dollars. That's a lot of money 105 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 2: for a media company. It made money through very native advertising. 106 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 2: This was quite a unique way of making money for 107 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 2: a media company. So basically you'd read a list of 108 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 2: say the top ten cafes in I don't know, Sydney, 109 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:40,359 Speaker 2: and then the number one spot would actually be a 110 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 2: paid position, and they generated a lot of revenue through 111 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 2: that method. What was also interesting about BuzzFeed is that 112 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,280 Speaker 2: they raised a lot of money and so if you're 113 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 2: not familiar with what that means, they went to investors 114 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 2: and they gave equity to. 115 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: Investors, especially shares in the company. 116 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 2: Shares in the company, and in turn those investors gave 117 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 2: them a lot of money. So they were backed by 118 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 2: a lot of venture capital firms, which is at that 119 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,600 Speaker 2: time was quite unique for media. It was actually one 120 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 2: of the first New Age media startups to be valued 121 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 2: at over a billion dollars, So that's what we call 122 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 2: a unicorst huge. It was the Golden Age. I mean, 123 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 2: it was like the rise of all of these digital 124 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 2: web based media players both in the US and i'd 125 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 2: say here in Australia as well. There were, you know, 126 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 2: outlets like Pedestrian and Junkie that were really flying at 127 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 2: that time. At the time, buzzfeeds founder said, the baton 128 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 2: has been passed from print to traditional web and now 129 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 2: from the traditional web to social. The entire industry is 130 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 2: shifting and we intend to be the leader in social publishing. 131 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: So that was twenty twelve. I want to go quickly 132 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: to a message from our sponsor, and then I want 133 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 1: to ask you what happened after that? So Czari, you've 134 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: left us in the heydays twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, things 135 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: are looking up one hundreds of millions of dollars flowing 136 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: through BuzzFeed. They're driving a lot of the traffic from 137 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:59,039 Speaker 1: Facebook to their website. 138 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 2: Then what happened so that upward trajectory spoiler didn't continue? 139 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 2: So by twenty fifteen, there were already reports that Buzzfeeds 140 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 2: financials weren't heading in the direction that they were hoping 141 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 2: for it to be heading. That year, it's reported the 142 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 2: company missed its internal revenue target by more than eighty 143 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 2: million dollars. I do have to say at this stage 144 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 2: that was a private company, so we're relying here on 145 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 2: leaps and whatever, you know, So take it with a 146 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 2: grain of salt. But missing a revenue target by eighty 147 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 2: million dollars is pretty significant. 148 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: And losses might not necessarily be the kind of crucial, 149 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: you know, stab in the chest of a company if 150 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: they're growing a lot of audience and that kind of stuff. 151 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, they weren't. They were losing audience incrementally. It wasn't, 152 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 2: you know, this mass exodus at that point. But from 153 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 2: twenty fifteen onwards there was this procession of job cuts, 154 00:07:56,200 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 2: of cutting products of you know, just basically trying to 155 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 2: minimize the losses or stem the losses as it were. 156 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 2: Then in twenty twenty one, BuzzFeed went public, so that 157 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 2: means that they became a publicly traded company on the 158 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 2: US Stock Exchange. 159 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: So you could jump onto a shared trading app, for example, 160 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: you and I and we could buy stocks in BuzzFeed. 161 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, and they were the first digital media company to 162 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 2: do this, fascinating, humongous And the idea was that that 163 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 2: would be a cash injection that they would then be 164 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 2: able to grow as a result of there would be 165 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 2: a lot of money that went into the business and 166 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 2: that that would be a good thing. 167 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: And the kind of six to twelve months before that 168 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: were really interesting because it was the beginning of the 169 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: pandemic and so a lot of news websites and social websites, 170 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: they saw this big growth in web traffic because everyone 171 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: was stuck at home online. Yeah, so they kind of 172 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: like Rode that said all right, now we're going public, 173 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: and then it wasn't all good. 174 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting when Billy and I spoke about what 175 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 2: happened to the Washington Post, this superficial spike that happened 176 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 2: during COVID, that a lot of media companies tried to 177 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 2: adapt themselves to meet the moment but didn't understand that 178 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 2: that wasn't going to last forever, and then were kind 179 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 2: of in a position where they couldn't weather the storm 180 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 2: that happened next. We like to say it's the only 181 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 2: industry where COVID was actually good for the industry. But 182 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 2: yet you're right, that didn't happen. The decision by the 183 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 2: company to go public didn't pan out as intended. It 184 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,319 Speaker 2: went public to raise money and to scale, but instead 185 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 2: it ended up getting less cash than expected, its stock 186 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 2: price collapsed, and over the following few years, it cut 187 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 2: costs really aggressively and then also closed down or sold 188 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 2: off parts of the business. For example, in April twenty 189 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 2: twenty three, amid those widespread staff layoffs, Jonah Parretti, who 190 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 2: I said was the founder, announced that they were shutting 191 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:50,440 Speaker 2: down BuzzFeed News. I found all of these quotes so 192 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 2: interesting to people who own a media company, a news 193 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 2: media company. He said the company had overinvested in BuzzFeed 194 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 2: News and didn't realize how expected if it would. 195 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: Be to sustain nice one Jonah. 196 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 2: He said the newsroom was high quality but not profitable, 197 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,720 Speaker 2: and questioned if there was a sustainable model for high quality, 198 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 2: free online journalism. 199 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, and he thought, Jonah's going straight to kind of me. 200 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:21,080 Speaker 2: Lying yeah, And again that was only a few years ago. 201 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 2: But at that point, audiences were already shifting pretty solidly 202 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 2: away from news websites and onto socials, and so BuzzFeed 203 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,319 Speaker 2: found itself in a position where it was losing a 204 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 2: lot of money and it was also losing its audiences, 205 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 2: and its founder were saying, yeah, not sure what to 206 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 2: do here. 207 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:41,839 Speaker 1: The other interesting part of how BuzzFeed played it all 208 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 1: out financially was how much they spent. Yeah, and I 209 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: mean it's one thing to raise and to record those losses, 210 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: and their strategy was none of that really matters, because 211 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: we're going to grow so fast and be so aggressive, 212 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: spend a lot, and dominate exactly, which a lot of companies, 213 00:10:57,800 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: you know, have a lot of success with Uber. 214 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,960 Speaker 2: Which I I it was in my mouth, yea say uber, I. 215 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:07,200 Speaker 1: Mean their first profitable year was last year. Yeah, and 216 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: they had to get out ahead of the competitors, spend 217 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of money, and now they're hopefully going 218 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: to see those returns in the eyes of shareholders. So 219 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 1: high logic. 220 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 2: Though, if you're not I mean, if you are not 221 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 2: someone who runs a business or who works in this space, 222 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 2: to conceptualize the idea of losing money every single year 223 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 2: compounding that is almost counterintuitive, but so many successful companies 224 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 2: do that and it pays off in the end totally. 225 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: And I mean, if you think about those venture capitalists 226 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: you were speaking about before the way I. 227 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,560 Speaker 2: Want to just to find what a venture capitalist is, it's. 228 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: Essentially somebody who often will manage other people's money to 229 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: invest in companies as early as they possibly can. And 230 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:48,560 Speaker 1: if you think about it as a lottery, which essentially 231 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: kind of this world, is if you invest in twenty companies, 232 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: you probably only need one or two to actually work, 233 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: and even if fifteen go bust, it will actually mean 234 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: that you're ending out on top. Yeah, And so they're 235 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:03,920 Speaker 1: happy to take these bets on companies like BuzzFeed. Vice 236 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: is another one that yeah, they you know, they banked 237 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:08,680 Speaker 1: a whole lot of money. But yeah, you've taken us 238 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: through the downward trajectory. Here we are in twenty twenty six. 239 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 1: It's fair to say that BuzzFeed doesn't have the presence 240 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,080 Speaker 1: in the market that it did. What do we find 241 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: out last week? 242 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,959 Speaker 2: Last week BuzzFeed released its latest results to. 243 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: The market, so it's still publicly. 244 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 2: Exactly because it's publicly listed, you have compliance things that 245 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 2: need to happen, and you need to issue these very 246 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 2: transparent reports to the market. And it was a fairly 247 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:42,319 Speaker 2: bleak document to read through the headline though that's misleading 248 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 2: because it was buried extremely deep in the press release 249 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 2: was that, and I'm quoting here, there is substantial doubt 250 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 2: about the company's ability to continue, i e. BuzzFeed is 251 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 2: going to run out of money very soon. The financials 252 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 2: show that they recorded a loss of more than fifty 253 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 2: seven million dollars in twenty twenty five, and that they 254 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 2: continue to be burning cash that they're not making up 255 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 2: that amount as well as as we spoke about before 256 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 2: losing their audience, there was a lot of corporate speak 257 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 2: and a lot of pr spin I guess throughout it. 258 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 2: But what I gleaned was that BuzzFeed is looking at 259 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:23,319 Speaker 2: some cash injection options and that strategically it is focusing 260 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 2: on demonstrating the value of its brands and new AI apps. 261 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: So it's really looking to make a pivot to technology. 262 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, which interestingly is where it all began. I was 263 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 2: trying to understand what these AI apps are. I've researched 264 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 2: front of them. It's called Conjure and the description says, 265 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,320 Speaker 2: every day conja sends you a summons a subject to 266 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 2: go photograph. You submit your photo as an offering. Something 267 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 2: on the other end accepts it or it doesn't. No explanation. 268 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 2: The law builds over time and entirely unlike anything else 269 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 2: in the app store, it becomes a daily ritual designed 270 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:00,679 Speaker 2: to pull people out of their feeds into the world. 271 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 2: So they're going all right, completely different. 272 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 1: Yeah. It kind of reminds me of that app that 273 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: was big where people had to take a photo whenever 274 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: the app sent themification. 275 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 2: Be Real. I love that for like half a day. 276 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 2: It was the best. 277 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 1: So let me put this to you. Zara's kind of 278 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: an ending question. You're somebody who loves entertainment content and 279 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: just soak it up, right, Yeah, and one of the 280 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: big arguments out there in the world of media is 281 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: that the death of BuzzFeed came with the arrival of TikTok. 282 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: Do you think that the arrival of short form video 283 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: changed the way that these entertainment websites could ever sustain themselves. 284 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 2: I wouldn't want to create causation. There is obviously a relationship, 285 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 2: but I don't know how much weight I'd put on 286 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 2: the arrival of TikTok as I would on the death 287 00:14:53,640 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 2: of web. Website traffic has significantly diminished, especially for media assets. 288 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 2: So I think that with the death of web and 289 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 2: the rise of vertical video in the form of TikTok, 290 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 2: those two things have happened together, and I think they 291 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 2: have both contributed to the goodbye of the media companies 292 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:17,640 Speaker 2: of the twenty tens. I think that this happens though 293 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 2: if you build something that is singularly for one place, 294 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 2: this happens. And it's why, for example, you and I 295 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 2: speak about the fact that we need to show up 296 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 2: on every platform, because just because TikTok is what is 297 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 2: huge right now doesn't mean that in four years time 298 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 2: it's what eighteen year olds are on them and we 299 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 2: need to be building content that can sit and live 300 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 2: and speak to people wherever they are, and I think 301 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 2: that's been the biggest lesson from the downfall of so 302 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 2: many of these media companies of the last few years. 303 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 2: But I think all of these things, and just like 304 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 2: the conversation we have with the Washington Post, all of 305 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 2: these things show that there are challenges that we face 306 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 2: as an industry. And I know that we don't want 307 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 2: this episode to be someone in media talking about all 308 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 2: the perils of the media, but as we've explained a 309 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 2: number of times, this has implications for people who want 310 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 2: to consume information in certain ways. So I think it's 311 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 2: important that we talk about these things, talk about the 312 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 2: learnings from some of these other companies, and perhaps move 313 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 2: forward with a bit more stability for the media industry. 314 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: A good lesson in the rise and fall of youth 315 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: media from two people trying to figure it all out 316 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: on the fly. Zara, thank you so much for taking 317 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: us through that. Thank you, Sam, and thank you for 318 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: joining us on the Daily. OZ still a growing youth 319 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: media company, and we hope it doesn't change that way 320 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: for a very long time. We'll be back with some 321 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: afternoon headlines later. Today. Until then, have a good one. 322 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda 323 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: Bunjelung Kalkuttin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges 324 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the 325 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:57,160 Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres 326 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,120 Speaker 1: Strait island and nations. We pay our respects to the 327 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.