8/13/2023 0 Comments Vice media spacIn addition, Adam Rothstein, executive chairman of 890 Fifth Avenue Partners, and Greg Coleman, an adviser to the SPAC (and former BuzzFeed president) will join BuzzFeed’s board of directors. The parent company will be known as “BuzzFeed Inc.” and trade its shares of common stock on a public exchange under the ticker symbol “BZFD.”īuzzFeed’s management team will remain in place, with Peretti and CFO Felicia DellaFortuna continuing in their roles alongside other executive team members. Group Nine Media, the digital media rollup whose backers include Discovery, formed a SPAC that went public earlier this year.īuzzFeed said the SPAC merger is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. SPACs have become an increasingly popular way for private companies to raise financing and go public - without having to undertake the more time-consuming traditional IPO route, which also carries additional disclosure requirements. On a pro-forma basis, BuzzFeed together with recently acquired news and opinion site HuffPost and Complex Networks, would have an aggregate audience that spends 806 million minutes per month - among Gen Z and millennials - across the properties, BuzzFeed said, citing Comscore data for October 2020. Complex had -$14 million in adjusted EBIDTA last year, swinging to a projected $2 million for 2021.Īs a public company, BuzzFeed expects to report “positive net earnings” and projected a compound annual growth rate of 26% for revenue through 2024 “with growing EBITDA margin,” the company said. The company expects pro-forma EBITDA of $57 million this year, up from $17 million last year and -$14 million in 2019.Ĭomplex will add a projected $119 million to BuzzFeed’s topline in 2021 last year, Complex had $100 million in sales, according to BuzzFeed’s financial deck. In 2020, BuzzFeed and Complex on a pro-forma basis had $421 million in revenue down from $425 million the year prior. Specifically, BuzzFeed is targeting $521 million in 2021 revenue (50% from ads, 32% from content, and 18% from commerce) inclusive of Complex Networks, according to its investor slide deck. “As a public company, we’ll have even more opportunity and public stock as a currency to help us pursue attractive acquisitions.” “We’re building a platform for future acquisitions, with the goal of bringing together the very best digital media offerings,” Peretti told staffers. With that run rate, “we finally have the scale to influence how the larger media industry works and help shape a better model for the future,” he wrote.īuzzFeed and its SPAC partners anticipate more M&A for the company. A busy dance floor.In a memo to staff, BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said the company is projecting more than $500 million in revenue for 2021 with the addition of Complex. One of the most highly-anticipated media deals - the Athletic’s planned merger with Axios - has reportedly hit the skids with the Athletic now turning to the New York Times as a merger partner. The regulator cast doubt on the overly optimistic projections of many startups merging with SPACs and suggested their warrants should be considered liabilities. After an explosive 109 new SPAC deals in March, there were only 10 in April. SPAC deals, all rage earlier this year, have come to a crashing standstill. But, as much as trendy editorial voices have positioned them as online content leaders, their business maneuverings have set them behind the curve: Buzzy digital media mainstays Vox, Bustle, and BuzzFeed have all been plotting blank-check mergers with SPACs, which would allow them to bypass the traditional IPO process. On the plus side, analysts say the merger would allow the company to escape a painful legacy provision from a deal stuck with TPG in 2017 - the PE firm is entitled to performance-based payments expected to cost Vice between $400 million between 20.Īs for the SPAC strategy, Vice isn’t alone.Last year revenue fell to just $580 million, down from $604 million. Founder Shane Smith predicted that Vice’s revenue would reach $1 billion by 2015.It would make a significant milestone in what has been a troubled story: Under the proposed transaction existing Vice shareholders (including Disney, A&E Networks, TPG, and founder Shane Smith) would control roughly 75% of the combined company. Vice, which bills itself as the “definitive guide to enlightening information,” is in talks with 7GC & Co Holdings. SEC Smacks SPACs, Digital Media Feels the Pain A big number, yes, but skimpy relative to its $5.7 billion valuation in 2017. Vice Media - the high-flying, millennial-focused digital media company - is planning to go public via a blank-check merger at a $3 billion valuation. Investors are hoping that what’s vice today may be virtue, tomorrow.
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