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Summary
- BuzzFeed has agreed to buy HuffPost from from Verizon Communications
- The size of the deal and price of acquisition has not been disclosed so far
- HuffPost’s ad inventory sales will continue to be managed by Verizon Media
New York-headquartered media company BuzzFeed will acquire the news aggregator HuffPost announcing a strategic partnership with Verizon Media. The takeover illustrates an impression that how adequately established media entities are joining hands for an improved synergistic approach.
Interestingly, HuffPost was founded nearly 18 months before New York-based BuzzFeed went live. In May 2005, Arianna Huffington along with Andrew Breitbart, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti co-founded HuffPost, whereas BuzzFeed was jointly incorporated in November 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III. BuzzFeed’s acquisition of HuffPost will see the latter content provider returning to its one of the co-founders Jonah Peretti.
HuffPost, as an official media partner of Verizon Media, will continue to contribute to the latter’s portfolio that includes premium partners such as Reuters, The New York Times, Associated Press, and USA Today.
10 Highlights of the acquisition
- The deal would see Verizon Media become a minority shareholder in BuzzFeed. However, the size and the price of the deal has not been made public.
- Both BuzzFeed and Verizon Media have collectively agreed to syndicate media across the portals for increased outreach and visibility of the content.
- The content published on the web portals of HuffPost will be amplified through content partners of Verizon Media, mainly via Yahoo channels and products that will further provide a push in the web traffic and monetisation of ad revenue.
- On the other hand, BuzzFeed will also get access to syndicate its content through Verizon Media’s Yahoo for an increased consumption of content being circulated on BuzzFeed portals.
- The combination of HuffPost with BuzzFeed provides an added advantage to the latter’s brand image as HuffPost audiences are complementary to the consumers of BuzzFeed content.
- Yahoo, a massive traffic driver for HuffPost and related content partners of Verizon Media is likely to have an upswing in the number of readers consuming BuzzFeed content.
- With the deal, BuzzFeed has a fair chance to monetise and leverage advertisements and content via Verizon Media’s Extended Reality (XR) platform, while the HuffPost’s ad inventory sales will continue to be managed under the umbrella of Verizon Media.
- The Verizon’s Media ad platform will enable BuzzFeed to reach and expand the consumer base through all possible channels including mobile, desktop, digital out of home, connected TV, video and audio by accessing the powerful data sets.
- After the buyout of HuffPost, BuzzFeed is planning to enlarge its line of business across the complementary demographic of the former recognised through the deal.
- Irrespective of the increased synergies after the deal, all the editions of BuzzFeed News and HuffPost will continue to run as distinct news organisations.
- With the partnership of BuzzFeed and HuffPost, the amalgamated media agency will jointly boast a diverse chunk of readers across the world that can help in channelising newer revenue opportunities for both the media entities.
