BuzzFeed set to badly miss revenue target: report

BuzzFeed is “on track to miss its revenue target for this year by a significant amount,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. 

The digital media company will miss its revenue target of $350 million for 2017 by between 15 and 20 percent, which amounts to a $50 to $70 million shortfall, according to the report.

The major miss makes the possibility of a public stock offering originally planned for 2018 “remote,” sources told the paper. 

“Some BuzzFeed investors have become worried about the company’s performance and rising costs for expansions in areas like news and entertainment,” the Journal reports. 

“Those frustrations were aired at a board meeting in recent weeks, in which directors took management to task.” 

BuzzFeed is backed by major investors, including Comcast-owned NBCUniversal, Hearst Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. 

NBCUniversal’s latest investment in 2016 was reportedly $400 million, bringing the value of the company at about $1.7 billion.

Former Politico writer Ben Smith was brought in as BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief in 2011. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in New York.