Ramaswamy Calls for Cuts, New Board Members at Buzzfeed

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy asserted in a letter that BuzzfFeed "has lost its way" while calling for changes to the company, including more cuts in personnel, new board members — his picks — and conservative voices on the platform.

Last week Ramaswamy purchased a 7.7% stake in BuzzFeed and said in a seven-page letter on Monday that he has since increased his position to 8.37% and counting.

Ramaswamy said in his filing last week he believes that BuzzFeed is undervalued, which seems to be the only thing that he and BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti agree on.

In his letter, Ramaswamy said BuzzFeed's "social-internet model is dying or dead, and BuzzFeed is caught without a viable strategy," adding that "there will be a temptation to reject what you are about to hear on partisan grounds because I was recently a Republican presidential candidate."

In his "path forward," Ramaswamy wrote that BuzzFeed needs to do 3 things:

1. "Get back to startup size;
2. Focus on audio & video content;
3. Make Buzzfeed a bold, distinctive brand."

Regarding No. 3, Ramaswamy wrote that the company should "distinguish yourself from competitors by openly admitting your past journalistic failures and redefine BuzzFeed's brand around the pursuit of truth."

Further, "We failed in our obligation to tell you the truth. By both omission and commission, we repeatedly lied on issues of national importance, and so did the rest of the media. We echoed easy, politically convenient narratives in pursuit of clicks. We failed to fact-check. We ceased being intellectually curious. We lost sight of fairness…"

Ramaswamy told BuzzFeed to "be bold" and "go for talents across the political and cultural spectrum."

"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 acquire."

Peretti was hit with the temptation to reject.

"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," Peretti wrote in an email response, according to multiple outlets, The Hollywood Reporter included. "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."

Ramaswamy has urged BuzzFeed to install his three-point plan by July 15.

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