What Twilight character are you?... Jacob SPAC. BuzzFeed announced plans to go public via SPAC-quisition, which would value the combined company at $1.5B — $200M less than BuzzFeed was worth in 2016. BuzzFeed also plans to buy digital publisher Complex for $300M. Its goal: become a digital media giant.
Sad listicle... Digital media companies have been struggling for years to compete with Facebook, Google, and ad newbie Amazon — aka: where most of the advertising bucks go. 15-year-old BuzzFeed is no exception to the struggle, with missed revenue targets and layoffs on its record. Now it's hungry for mergers.
- Last year, BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost from Verizon. And its CEO reportedly held talks to merge with competitors including Vice, Vox, and PopSugar-owner Group Nine. Now it's getting Complex.
- In BF's own words: "With this acquisition, BuzzFeed becomes even better-positioned to thrive in an age of media consolidation."
Big Media might be necessary... to survive in a Big Tech world. The Facebook-Google-Amazon "triopoly" ate nearly 90% of the digital-ad market last year, up from 80% in 2019. BuzzFeed thinks there's power in numbers, so it's rallying digital media companies under its umbrella to take on the triopoly. SPAC cash could help it make future acquisitions. But even with those, it's unclear if it can succeed long-term.