Former President Donald Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, listens as former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a Trump rally upfront of the New Hampshire major election, in Laconia, New Hampshire, Jan. 22, 2024.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Former GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has an 8% stake in BuzzFeed and is looking for to impact a “shift” within the media agency’s technique, the investor stated Tuesday in a regulatory submitting.
“Keep tuned,” Ramaswamy informed CNBC through a spokesperson. He indicated within the submitting that he would search to debate with BuzzFeed’s administration each side of the corporate’s operations, as much as and together with an acquisition by a 3rd celebration.
BuzzFeed shares opened up 55% on the information. Shares pared again positive aspects and have been up about 20% as of 10:25 a.m. ET. The inventory closed Tuesday at $2.50.
BuzzFeed didn’t reply to a request for remark. The media outlet went public through a particular goal acquisition firm in an ill-received 2021 debut. Shares have fallen 94% since then. CEO Jonah Peretti informed CNBC in a prior interview that his job was to “set us up with a greater future.”
Ramaswamy’s involvement raises questions on BuzzFeed’s route. His Try Asset Administration has pushed corporations to remain out of “woke” politics and opposed the widespread adoption of environmental, social and governance, or ESG, ideas.
Corporations ought to “do no matter permits them to be most profitable over the long term with out regard to political, social, cultural or environmental agendas,” Ramaswamy told CNBC in a 2023 interview.
The once-viral firm has been hit arduous by altering information habits. It shuttered its Pulitzer Prize-winning news division in 2023, shedding 15% of its workers on the time. BuzzFeed was depending on social-media and search site visitors to drive guests to its properties, and as these platforms have modified or deprioritized information BuzzFeed’s backside line has additionally been affected.
Ramaswamy made his fortune through Try and his drug growth agency Roivant Sciences. He’s additionally the creator of “Woke, Inc.,” wherein he decried the social justice motion sweeping the nation in 2020 and 2021 as a “rip-off.”
Ramaswamy has remained near the Mar-a-Lago circuit after throwing his help behind former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee. It is unlikely, nonetheless, that he can be Trump’s vice-presidential choose, provided that a number of GOP operatives and donors have expressed deep opposition.
Disclosure: CNBC mother or father NBCUniversal is a minority investor in BuzzFeed.
— CNBC’s Alex Sherman and Brian Schwartz contributed to this report.
