BuzzFeed Sells Complex to Ntwrk for $108.6 Million, Will Lay Off 16% of Remaining Workforce
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor BuzzFeed has sold Complex — the youth-culture media company it bought three years ago — and will pink-slip another 16% of BuzzFeed’s remaining staffers in a restructuring designed to get back on financial track.
BuzzFeed announced Wednesday that it closed the sale of Complex to ecommerce platform Ntwrk in a $108.6 million all-cash deal.
L.A.-based Ntwrk said that together with Complex, it will build a “next-generation content and shopping experience” that it described as a “new destination for ‘superfan’ culture that will define the future of commerce, digital media and music.” Investors in the newly merged company include Universal Music Group, Jimmy Iovine, Main Street Advisors and Goldman Sachs.
In addition to the $108.6 million purchase price, BuzzFeed received approximately $5.7 million related to Complex’s use of the company’s New York offices and “severance- and other employment-related costs.” BuzzFeed acquired Complex Networks in December 2021 for approximately $198 million in cash and $96 million in equity — for a total price tag of $294 million.
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