BuzzFeed buying HuffPost from Verizon, taking out a digital rival

BuzzFeed is buying HuffPost from Verizon as part of a bigger deal that has the wireless giant investing in the digital-media company.

Verizon will be a minority shareholder in BuzzFeed, and the two companies will partner on content and ads. BuzzFeed and Verizon did not disclose terms of the deal. 

A downturn in advertising due to the coronavirus pandemic has hurt both traditional and digital-only media organizations, resulting in layoffs and furloughs. Digital newsrooms had been consolidating even before the pandemic, including Vox's purchase of New York Magazine and its digital arms.

Verizon came to own HuffPost, co-founded by Arianna Huffington, through its $4.4 billion acquisition of AOL in 2015. The country's biggest wireless provider also bought Yahoo in 2017 for $4.8 billion in an attempt to build a digital media business that could challenge Facebook. That Verizon Media business has struggled.

Verizon Media will continue to manage sales for HuffPost's ad inventory, BuzzFeed said in announcing the deal. HuffPost's content will be amplified via Yahoo channels and products — a huge driver of traffic for HuffPost, according to a BuzzFeed.

Together but separate

In an email to staff about the acquisition, BuzzFeed News Editor in Chief Mark Schoofs said the two news organizations would remain separate. 

BuzzFeed is known for its quizzes and lists, but also invested in its news division. Its founder and CEO, Jonah Peretti, also co-founded HuffPost, then known as The Huffington Post, in 2005. AOL bought it for $315 million in 2011.

"I have vivid memories of growing HuffPost into a major news outlet in its early years, but BuzzFeed is making this acquisition because we believe in the future of HuffPost and the potential it has to continue to define the media landscape for years to come," Peretti said in a statement. "With the addition of HuffPost, our media network will have more users, spending significantly more time with our content than any of our peers."

Peretti said in a memo to BuzzFeed employees that he expects the deal to close at the beginning of 2021.