Jonah Pereti helped to form digital media – can he do it again?

Until now, Jonah’s career has been determined by constant resumption. As the founder and CEO of BuzzfeedPerets have been at the helm of digital media for almost two decades, navigating, as the small startup is once transformed at one point, a multimedia power plant.

But since the company is aging, one question lingers: Peret’s ruthless pursuit of innovation has made it too entrepreneurial to bring BuzzFeed to long -term stability?

“The good thing about this area,” ponder Perets, “do you do something (different) all the time. It wasn’t 20 years since one job. It was 20 years to start a start, and then to manage a hypercalizing business, and then to figure out how to get to know the company of the company … and now the explosion in the generative AI.

Peret’s ability to adapt and remain in front of the curve was a hallmark of Buzzfeed’s success. Years ago, Buzzfeed enjoyed almost the only success in his extraordinary ability to share media. (A video segment focused on why Disney Princes will make “horrible boyfriends” over the years has picked up 77 million views.)

Today, the BUZZFEED focus is on AI, including AI quizzes and others AI generated contentS It also pours part of its resources into a product in a development called BF Island, a social network that aims to combine AI by creating content to “spread joy and to enable playful creative expression.” This is how the idea becomes anyway.

Pereti routinely discusses the company’s upcoming endeavors with mediaEven when they are still at an early age. Asked why, he tells TechCrunch: “The idea of ​​talking about things you work on is that you are doing the product better.

This entrepreneurial driving nourishes much of BuzzFeed’s most emblematic projects. The company is a pioneer of viral quizzes and lists, after which he focused on more serious journalism with Buzzfeed News. But not all these shifts have paid off. More special, despite its early success, Buzzfeed News was closed In 2023, leaving behind questions whether the company had to adhere to a clear vision and not jump between them.

BUZZFEED shareholders may consider the same after traveling by trains they were. Buzzfeed became public through a special -purpose vehicle in 2021 and as part of the transaction he acquired a media company, complex networks, for $ 300 million in cash and shares. Today, Buzzfeed is still in public but does not own this business; He sold it approximately $ 108 million Last year. Just recently BuzzFeed sold another asset from this sophisticated network deal – first that we are feasting – in separate $ 82.5 million Allcash deal. (Explains Perets from both sales: “They are not so technological businesses. They are more production and talents heavy.”)

BUZZFEED shares, priced at $ 10 initially, are now trading $ 2.20 per share.

The tension lies here. Peret’s embrace from a constant recovery is striking, but also means that the company’s strategy often feels like a series of experiments, not as a cohesive long -term plan. The experiments also come at a price. Pereti says BF Island is a $ 10 million gambling for now, which is not expected to make revenue this year. He adds that Buzzfeed’s “main business” is profitable.

A fair question is whether Buzzfeed will be better served than a only, consistent vision for the future – like the New York Times, he has been able to achieve – instead of betting on a new idea after another.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to understand the answer. The media industry has long favored stability, but Perets are not wrong to believe that the current wave of generative AI revolutionizes how people create and share content. In addition, as excited as it sounds to the options, Perets sounds clear to the risks.

“The big thing is that Buzzfeed gave us a lot of experience with new formats,” he says. “We have received many incoming people who have ideas and want to cooperate with us.”

You can hear from our interview with feathers in an upcoming episode of Stictlyvc download; The new episodes drop out every Tuesday.