BuzzFeed lays off 70 HuffPost staffers in massive 'restructure' less than a month after acquisition

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced Tuesday that 47 HuffPost employees in the US would be laid off and that HuffPost Canada would be shut down, affecting 23 employees. HuffPost union said the cuts in the US affected 33 of its members, representing 30% of its unit.

Peretti told staffers that the cuts were made to manage costs, adding that HuffPost's losses exceeded $20 million last year and would be estimated to be similar this year.

"Though BuzzFeed is a profitable company, we don't have the resources to support another two years of losses. The most responsible thing we can do is to manage our costs and ensure BuzzFeed — and HuffPost — are set up to prosper long-term." Peretti said. "That's why we've made the difficult decision to restructure HuffPost to reach profitability more quickly. Our goal is for HuffPost to break even this year."

Verizon Media Group, the media division of Verizon which also includes Yahoo and TechCrunch, agreed to sell HuffPost in November. Peretti was a cofounder of HuffPost, which launched in 2005 and grew to prominence for covering global news events for a digital audience. In recent years, Peretti has expressed a need to unite digital media companies to better compete for ad dollars with the tech platforms like Facebook and Google.

HuffPost has operated without an editor in chief since Lydia Polgreen left in March of the last year. Peretti told staffers Tuesday that the company is in the final interview stages for a new top editor and expects to name a successor in the coming weeks.

Peretti also announced that Hillary Frey, executive editor of HuffPost, and Louise Roug, executive editor for international, will be leaving the company.