BuzzFeed is about to separate its news and entertainment divisions in a company-wide shakeup.
CEO Jonah Peretti sent a memo to staffers on Tuesday outlining the changes, which will see the formation of the new BuzzFeed Entertainment Group (BFEG).
BuzzFeed Motion Pictures president Ze Frank will lead BFEG, with Jeremy Briggs continuing his efforts to expand the company’s video production in New York.
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“This new structure will allow us to focus on being the #1 entertainment brand globally, across many platforms, in formats that include short and long form video, posts, lists, quizzes, micro-content, and more,” Peretti said.
The memo, obtained by Vanity Fair, also states that BuzzFeed News will expand under Ben Smith, with divisions like the health team now falling under Smith’s purview.
“Our recent expansion of video news under Henry Goldman will also become part of the BuzzFeed News organization, and we will continue to expand that news video team,” he said. “In this new structure, Ben will focus primarily on news, his first and enduring love.”
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“This structure will allow us to be better at entertainment and better at news,” he continued. “It will also complete our shift to becoming a cross-platform media company, with entertainment and news both living on our site, our apps, and distributed on platforms across the web in multiple native formats.”
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