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BuzzFeed has had a lot of wins and heartbreaks since it first captured consumers’ attention in 2026, here is a brief history of some of the company's bigger moves:

• 2006 — Founded on November 1 in New York City by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III as a viral content lab,
• 2008 — Raised $3.5 million in Series A funding from Hearst Ventures and SoftBank Capital. MatrixBCG
• 2011 — Hired Ben Smith as editor-in-chief, steering the company toward original journalism; launched BuzzFeed News in 2012 alongside BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, which eventually hit 1 billion monthly views.
• 2016 — Achieved profitability for the first time; acquired Tasty, which became a major food content brand.
• 2017 — Laid off 100 employees. 2019 — Laid off 200 more (15% of workforce) despite revenue growing 15% from 2017 to 2018.
• 2018 — Facebook's algorithm changes sharply reduced social referral traffic, forcing a difficult shift toward owned channels and video platforms — the beginning of a sustained revenue crisis.
• 2023 (January) — Jonah Peretti announced a "hard pivot" to AI-generated content, with AI to "replace the majority of static content" on the site.
• 2023 (April) — Shut down its Pulitzer Prize-winning BuzzFeed News division entirely after investors pushed hard for the closure.
• 2024 (February) — Sold Complex Networks to NTWRK (a livestream shopping platform) for $108.6 million; also announced another round of layoffs (16% of workforce).
• 2024 (July) — Sold travel brand Bring Me! to media publisher LOST iN.
• 2024 (December) — Sold First We Feast (producer of Hot Ones) for $82.5 million to a consortium of investors.