Vivek Ramaswamy tells US to ‘stay tuned’ after he takes minority stake in BuzzFeed

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has purchased a minority stake in BuzzFeed, telling the US to “stay tuned” as he seeks to shift the digital media company’s strategy.
Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, acquired a 7.7 percent stake in BuzzFeed, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
Since then, shares of the company have skyrocketed. As of Wednesday morning, shares of BuzzFeed Inc., based in New York City, rose 22 percent to about $3.05.
Ramaswamy said in the filing that he believes BuzzFeed’s stock is undervalued, and he said to CNBC: “Stay tuned.”
The former presidential candidate also indicated in the filing that he plans to discuss every aspect of BuzzFeed’s operations with the management team.
BuzzFeed has struggled to prop up sales since it went public in 2021. In late 2022, job cuts began rolling out with the company citing a poor digital advertising environment.
Then early last year, the company announced it was shutting down its Pulitzer Prize winning digital media outlet BuzzFeed News.
The corporate parent’s co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said in a memo to staff at the time that in addition to the news division, layoffs would take place in its business, content, tech, and administrative teams.
Earlier this month, BuzzFeed reported a first-quarter loss of $35.7 million, or 72 cents per share, on revenue of $44.8 million. Advertising revenue fell 22 percent, while content revenue declined 19 percent and the company is projecting a worsening revenue situation.
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Ramaswamy suspended his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in January and endorsed former President Donald Trump after finishing a distant fourth in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses.
The son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy entered politics at the highest level after making hundreds of millions of dollars at the intersection of hedge funds and pharmaceutical research, a career he charted and built while graduating from Harvard University and then Yale Law School.
Ramaswamy’s new involvement in BuzzFeed raises questions about the company’s direction, as his Strive Asset Management has pushed companies to stay out of “woke” politics and opposed the widespread adoption of environmental, social, and governance principles.
Ramaswamy said in a 2023 interview with CNBC that companies should “do whatever allows them to be most successful over the long run without regard to political, social, cultural, or environmental agendas.”
The entrepreneur has made his fortune through Strive and his drug development firm, Roivant Sciences. He is also the author of “Woke, Inc.,” in which he called the social justice movement moving through the US in 2020 and 2021 a “scam.”