Exclusive: Jonah Peretti explains why he sold BuzzFeed

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Business, Technology

4.2 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Just days before we spoke, BuzzFeed co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti agreed to sell the company, which was losing money and at risk of shutting down. Now there’s a new lease on life — and new leadership. Jonah is taking on a new role as president of BuzzFeed AI, and Byron Allen will become CEO of BuzzFeed. That’s obviously a huge structural and organizational change, and a really big decision — prime Decoder bait if there ever was any. What are digital media companies doing to adapt and survive in an information landscape dominated by algorithmic social platforms? Read the full interview transcript on The Verge. Links: Byron Allen is buying BuzzFeed and becoming CEO | Variety BuzzFeed issues going concern warning, lacks liquidity | Wall Street Journal BuzzFeed News is shutting down | The Verge BuzzFeed sells Hot Ones studio in $82.5M deal | NBC News The unbearable lightness of BuzzFeed | The Verge I hate myself because I don’t work for BuzzFeed (2015) | The Awl Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt; this episode was edited by Kabir Chopra. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	With Finn, we've built the number one AI agent for customer service.
0:03.5	It solves up to 90% of queries for businesses,
0:06.5	tops all the performance benchmarks in the G2 leaderboard,
0:09.7	and it comes with a million dollar guarantee.
0:12.0	Check it out at fin.a.i.
0:18.0	I'm Neil I Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge,
0:20.2	and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems.
0:23.2	Today I'm talking to Jonah Peretti, who is technically still the CEO of BuzzFeed.
0:28.3	Although that will be coming to an end very soon. Just days before we spoke,
0:31.8	Jonah agreed to sell 52% of BuzzFeed for a total of $120 million to Byron Allen, who owns the Weather Channel,
0:39.6	a number of broadcast stations, and several other websites.
0:42.5	Deal is a bit of a life raft for BuzzFeed.
0:44.5	The company was once valued at $1.6 billion.
0:48.0	But just last quarter, the company told investors it was at risk of running out of cash.
0:52.8	Now, there's a new lease on life and new leadership.
0:55.6	As part of the deal, Jonah himself is stepping down as CEO and taking on a new role as
1:00.2	president of BuzzFeed AI. Byron Allen himself will become the new CEO of BuzzFeed. It's obviously
1:05.9	a huge structural and organizational change and a really big decision. This is prime decoder bait.
1:11.6	And of course, I've always been very interested in what digital media companies are doing
1:15.6	to adapt and survive in an information landscape dominated by algorithmic social platforms.
1:20.6	And for all, I've been saying for a long time that the original sin of digital media was Jonah and BuzzFeed
1:26.6	betting they could so consistently
	...

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