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BuzzFeed announces plans to go public via SPAC

24 June 2021
Dan Ackermann

BuzzFeed said Thursday it plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The company is targeting a $1.5 billion valuation upon combining with 890 Fifth Avenue Partners, Inc., a blank-check company.

Driving the news: As part of the transaction, Buzzfeed said it plans to acquire Complex Networks, a lifestyle and entertainment media company, for $300 million in cash and stock.

  • Complex is currently owned via a joint venture of Hearst Communications and Verizon Communications. BuzzFeed will pay $200 million in cash for the property and $100 million of equity in BuzzFeed.

Why it matters: After 15 years, BuzzFeed — one of the largest venture-backed digital media companies — is finally delivering a return to its investors.

  • BuzzFeed had originally planned to go public in 2018, but plans were derailed following changes to the digital media ecosystem that impacted its business.
  • In the past, BuzzFeed has had conversations with other digital media giants, like Group Nine Media and Vox Media, about possible partnerships or combinations.

Details: The idea behind BuzzFeed's move is to create a publicly traded digital behemoth that houses many different digital brands. Earlier this year, BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost in an all-stock deal to jumpstart that process.

  • The parent company will be known as BuzzFeed Inc. BuzzFeed’s management team will remain in place.
  • Adam Rothstein, executive chairman of 890 Fifth Avenue Partners Inc., and Greg Coleman, an adviser to 890 Fifth Avenue Partners Inc. and former BuzzFeed president, will join BuzzFeed’s board of directors.
  • Two more board members will also be announced in the coming months.
  • Upon going public, BuzzFeed will trade on a public exchange under the ticker symbol “BZFD”

What they're saying: "BuzzFeed is now the undeniable leader for the next generation of media. We’ve built a slate of essential brands, loved by the most diverse, engaged, and loyal audience on the Internet,” BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said in a statement.

What's next: The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2021. It has already been approved by the boards of directors of both BuzzFeed and 890 Fifth Avenue Partners.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.