Vivek Ramaswamy Acquires 7.7% Activist Stake in BuzzFeed
Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneur and pro-Trump politician, has acquired a 7.7% stake in BuzzFeed — and indicated he’s staging an activist campaign to shake up the struggling digital media company.
Ramaswamy acquired 2,723,927 shares in BuzzFeed in a series of purchases from March 14 through May 21, according to an SEC filing dated May 21. Shares of BuzzFeed jumped more than 50% in premarket trading Wednesday on the disclosure.
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According to the filing, Ramaswamy “believes the securities of [BuzzFeed] are undervalued and represent an attractive investment opportunity. The Reporting Person will seek to engage in a dialogue with the Issuer’s Board of Directors (the ‘Board’) and/or management about numerous operational and strategic opportunities to maximize shareholder value, including a shift in the Company’s strategy.”
Asked for comment, a BuzzFeed spokesperson said, “BuzzFeed is purposely structured to protect its editorial integrity. We are always open to hearing ideas from our shareholders.”
Ramaswamy — who amassed his wealth in finance and the pharma company he founded, Rovient Sciences — in January dropped out of the 2024 GOP presidential contest and endorsed Donald Trump, saying he would support Trump even if the former president was convicted of felonies.
Ramaswamy, 38, has branded himself “anti-woke” and traded in a number of fringe conspiracy theories. He has called the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol an “inside job” facilitated by federal law enforcement and promoted the racist “replacement theory” that alleges Democrats want to allow immigrants of color to into the U.S. to “replace” white voters.
Ramaswamy also joined in the bizarre conspiracy theory that Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, were somehow in cahoots with President Biden and that the Super Bowl was being rigged. “I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” he posted on X in January. “And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.”
BuzzFeed, amid its financial woes, earlier this year sold Complex for $108.6 million and laid off 16% of BuzzFeed’s remaining staffers. In April 2023, BuzzFeed announced it was shuttering its unprofitable BuzzFeed News division and laying off about 180 employees across the organization.
Last week, BuzzFeed announced a change in its compensation structure for founder and CEO Jonah Peretti, who will now receive most of his pay package in stock, in addition to introducing new incentives for other top execs — a bid to persuade shareholders that its senior leaders will be better incentivized to boost the share price.
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