BuzzFeed, Inc. Completes Strategic and Organizational Changes Following a Transformative 2024

Company Strengthens Balance Sheet, Grows High-Margin Revenue Streams, and Expands AI-Driven Innovation

BuzzFeed, Inc.'s ("BuzzFeed" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:BZFD) fourth quarter and full year (ended December 31, 2024) financial results were in line with its outlook shared in December, demonstrating progress in stabilizing operations and positioning the business for long-term growth. Following a strategic transformation in 2024, BuzzFeed is optimistic about the year ahead and is committed to bettering operational efficiency and improving monetization across the Company's owned and operated sites and apps.

"BuzzFeed has always been at the forefront of digital media, evolving with industry shifts and embracing new technologies," said Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed Founder & CEO. "2024 was a transformational year as we strengthened our fundamentals, streamlined operations, and scaled our high-margin revenue streams. By leveraging AI to optimize our tech and advertising, enhance audience engagement, and explore R&D for BF Island, we have positioned BuzzFeed for long-term success in the AI era."

As part of this strategy, BuzzFeed recently announced the development of BF Island, a new social platform designed to reimagine how people create, share, and engage with content. This ambitious long-term investment aligns with the Company's vision of fostering creativity and fun while building a more direct relationship with audiences. The Company plans to begin private beta testing BF Island with users in Q2.

"We've significantly reduced our debt and strengthened our balance sheet, putting us in a much stronger financial position heading into 2025," said Matt Omer, BuzzFeed CFO. "With a leaner, more focused operation, we're prioritizing high-margin, tech-enabled revenue streams like programmatic advertising, affiliate commerce, and AI-driven innovation. These moves give us the flexibility to invest in long-term growth while driving sustainable profitability."

2024 Full Year Financial and Operational Highlights for Continuing Operations¹

• BuzzFeed delivered Full Year 2024 revenues of $189.9 million, declining 18% compared to 2023.
  • ○ Advertising revenue declined 17% year-over-year to $94.4 million, reflecting an intentional shift away from lower-margin, direct-sold advertising.
    • Programmatic advertising remained relatively flat year-over-year at $64.9 million.
  • Content revenue declined 49% year-over-year to $33.9 million, primarily due to a decrease in direct-sold deals and fewer studio projects.
  • Commerce and other revenues grew 23% year-over-year to $61.7 million, driven by strong affiliate commerce performance.
    • Affiliate commerce increased 26% year-over-year to $59.6 million.
• Net loss from continuing operations improved to $34.0 million, compared to a net loss from continuing operations of $55.7 million in 2023, a result of successful cost savings and operational efficiencies.
• Adjusted EBITDA² improved by $17.1 million year-over-year, achieving positive Adjusted EBITDA of $5.5 million for the full year 2024.
• In 2024, audience Time Spent³ with our content totaled 297.9 million hours, reflecting a 3% decline year-over-year, though we continue to outpace the competition.
• BuzzFeed ended the period with cash and cash equivalents of approximately $38.6 million, an increase of $3.0 million compared to 2023.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial and Operational Highlights for Continuing Operations

• BuzzFeed delivered Q4 revenues of $56.2 million, declining 20% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, in line with the Company's outlook shared in December.
  • Advertising revenue declined 19% year-over-year to $25.4 million, reflecting a deemphasis of direct sold advertising and into higher-margin programmatic advertising.
    • Programmatic advertising remained relatively flat year-over-year at $18.0 million.
  • Content revenue declined 59% year-over-year to $9.5 million, driven by a reduction in direct-sold content deals and studio revenue.
  • Commerce and other revenues increased 39% year-over-year to $21.3 million, supported by strong affiliate performance.
    • Affiliate commerce grew 39% year-over-year to $20.8 million.
• Net loss from continuing operations was $3.8 million, compared to net income from continuing operations of $4.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 2024 was $10.9 million, compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $13.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Time Spent improved approximately 10% year-over-year to 79.3 million hours, and BuzzFeed continues to outpace the competition.

Business and Content Highlights

• In Q4, audiences spent more time consuming BuzzFeed content — both overall and among its core demographic of Millennial and Gen Z — than that of any other digital media company in its competitive set,⁴ reinforcing the Company's strong tech optimization and engagement strategies.
• The Company achieved significant year-over-year growth in affiliate commerce revenue from both July's Amazon Prime Day and October's Prime Big Deal Day, demonstrating strong momentum as we continue to expand high-margin affiliate commerce.
  • Further, the Company drove more than $500 million in attributable transactions in 2024 for our commerce partners.
• In Q4 2024, the percentage of loyal users across BuzzFeed.com's web and app (those who return more than once within a 7-day period) reached approximately 48%, the highest level in the last 2 years.

Full Year 2025 Financial Outlook

The following financial outlook is on a continuing operations basis and includes our planned investment in BF Island for the year ahead.

• We expect overall revenues in the range of $195 million to $210 million, or 3-10% higher than 2024.
• We expect Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $10 million to $20 million, an improvement of approximately $10 million year-over-year at the midpoint.

These statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially as a result of many factors. Refer to "Forward-Looking Statements" below for information on factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

Refer to "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below for a description of how Adjusted EBITDA is calculated. While Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure, we have not provided guidance for the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure — net (loss) income from continuing operations — due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts that are necessary to forecast such a measure. Accordingly, a reconciliation of non-GAAP guidance for Adjusted EBITDA to the corresponding GAAP measure is not available.

Quarterly Conference Call

BuzzFeed's management team will hold a conference call to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results today, March 13, at 5PM ET. The call will be available via webcast at investors.buzzfeed.com under the heading News and Events, and parties interested in participating must register in advance at the same location. Upon registration, all telephone participants will receive a confirmation email detailing how to join the conference call, including the dial-in number along with a unique PIN that can be used to access the call. While it is not required, it is recommended you join 5 minutes prior to the event start time. A replay of the call will be made available at the same URL.

We have used, and intend to continue to use, the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.buzzfeed.com as a means of disclosing material nonpublic information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.

Definitions

BuzzFeed reports revenues across three primary business lines: Advertising, Content and Commerce and other. The definition of "Time Spent" is also set forth below.

• Advertising revenues are primarily generated from advertisers, both programmatically and directly, for ads distributed against our editorial and news content, including display, pre-roll and mid-roll video products. We distribute these ad products across our owned and operated sites as well as third-party platforms, primarily YouTube and Apple News.
• Content revenues are primarily generated from clients for custom assets, including both long-form and short-form content, from branded quizzes to Instagram takeovers to sponsored content. Studio generally includes revenue from films, content licensing, TV projects, and other projects inspired by BuzzFeed IP.
• Commerce and other revenues consist primarily of affiliate commissions earned on transactions initiated from our editorial shopping content. Revenues from our product licensing businesses are also included here.
• Time Spent captures the time audiences spend engaging with our content across our owned and operated sites, as well as YouTube and Apple News, as measured by Comscore. This metric excludes time spent with our content on platforms for which we have minimal advertising capabilities that contribute to our Advertising revenues, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and X (formerly Twitter). There are inherent challenges in measuring the total actual number of hours spent with our content across all platforms; however, we consider the data reported by Comscore to represent industry-standard estimates of the time actually spent on our largest distribution platforms with our most significant monetization opportunities. Time Spent presented above excludes time spent on Complex Networks, as Complex Networks is presented as a discontinued operation herein. Time Spent on Complex Networks, as reported by Comscore, was approximately 10.0 million hours through the date of the Complex Disposition, February 21, 2024, and 76 million and 126 million hours for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Time Spent on Complex Networks, as reported by Comscore, historically included Time Spent on First We Feast, as First We Feast was historically under the Complex Networks' measurement portfolio of Comscore. It was previously determined that Time Spent on First We Feast cannot be reasonably bifurcated from Time Spent on Complex Networks. As such, we have excluded Time Spent on First We Feast from our measure of Time Spent disclosed above.

About BuzzFeed, Inc.

BuzzFeed, Inc. is home to the best of the Internet. Across pop culture, entertainment, shopping, food and news, our brands drive conversation and inspire what audiences watch, read, and buy now—and into the future. Born on the Internet in 2006, BuzzFeed is committed to making it better: providing trusted, quality, brand-safe news and entertainment to hundreds of millions of people; making content on the Internet more inclusive, empathetic, and creative; and inspiring our audience to live better lives.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are non-GAAP financial measures and represent key metrics used by management and our board of directors to measure the operational strength and performance of our business, to establish budgets, and to develop operational goals for managing our business. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net (loss) income from continuing operations, excluding the impact of net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests, income tax (benefit) provision, interest expense, net, other expense (income), net, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, change in fair value of warrant liabilities, change in fair value of derivative liability, restructuring costs, impairment expense, transaction-related costs, certain litigation costs, public company readiness costs, and other non-cash and non-recurring items that management believes are not indicative of ongoing operations. Adjusted EBITDA margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by revenue for the same period.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are relevant and useful information for investors because they allow investors to view performance in a manner similar to the method used by our management. There are limitations to the use of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin, and our Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin should not be considered a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial results as determined in accordance with GAAP are included at the end of this press release following the accompanying financial data.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our management team's expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions, or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts (including our outlook for 2025), or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "affect," "anticipate," "believe," "can," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "seek," "should," "target," "will," "would," and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (1) macroeconomic factors including: adverse economic conditions in the United States and globally, including the potential onset of recession; potential government shutdowns or failure to raise the U.S. federal debt ceiling; current global supply chain disruptions; the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas and any related sanctions and geopolitical tensions, and further escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and its trading partners; tariffs; the inflationary environment; and the competitive labor market; (2) developments relating to our competitors and the digital media industry, including overall demand of advertising in the markets in which we operate; (3) demand for our products and services or changes in traffic or engagement with our brands and content; (4) changes in the business and competitive environment in which we and our current and prospective partners and advertisers operate; (5) our future capital requirements, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional capital in the future, to repurchase our $30.0 million aggregate principal amount of unsecured convertible notes due 2026 (i.e., the "Notes") upon a fundamental change such as the delisting of our Class A common stock, at their maturity, or upon the holders of the Notes requiring repayment of their Notes on or after March 31, 2025 (or, if we pay a specified fee, May 31, 2025), any restrictions imposed by, or commitments under, the indenture governing the Notes or agreements governing any future indebtedness, and any restrictions on our ability to access our cash and cash equivalents; (6) developments in the law and government regulation, including, but not limited to, revised foreign content and ownership regulations, and the outcomes of legal proceedings, regulatory disputes or governmental investigations to which we are subject; (7) the benefits of our restructuring; (8) our success divesting of companies, assets, or brands we sell or in integrating and supporting the companies we acquire; (9) our success in launching new products or platforms, including any new social media platform; (10) technological developments including artificial intelligence; (11) our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, officers, other key employees, or directors; (12) use of content creators and on-camera talent and relationships with third parties managing certain of our branded operations outside of the United States; (13) the security of our information technology systems or data; (14) disruption in our service, or by our failure to timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing technology and infrastructure; (15) our ability to maintain the listing of our Class A common stock and warrants on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; and (16) those factors described under the sections entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual and quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that we consider immaterial or which are unknown. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

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