Vivek Ramaswamy Pushes ‘BuzzFeed’ To Hire Tucker Carlson & Aaron Rodgers After Buying 8% Of The Company

Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech entrepreneur and podcast host, called for the website BuzzFeed to cut staff and hire controversial commentators like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

BuzzFeed, which raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors in the early 2010s after it saw great success with viral stories across social networks, is under serious pressure as traffic platforms like Facebook and X decline.

The group’s shares tanked after it went public on the stock market in 2021. 

Since BuzzFeed went public through a SPAC, shares in the company decreased 92%, trading at $3 in recent days.

It laid off hundreds of staff,  shuttered its award-winning news division in 2023 and sold off Complex Networks.

Even though the company has been struggling, it still operates The Huffington Post, Tasty, First We Feast and other prominent internet brands.

Ramaswamy now owns 8.3% of BuzzFeed after he revealed his investment last week.

In a letter to BuzzFeed’s board, Ramaswamy claimed that the business had “lost its way.” He demanded a “major shift” in its strategy and promised to purchase more shares.

He also advised BuzzFeed to place widespread job cuts to “get back to startup size” and concentrate on video and audio. 

He demanded the company admit its “past journalistic failures” and even drafted a statement for it to publish in which it apologized for prior coverage.

Ramaswamy suggested that BuzzFeed “be bold” and transform the publication into a creator-driven platform by recruiting well-known provocative commentators like Carlson and Candace Owens to “challenge” its audience. 

Ramaswamy’s list of commentators also included Bill Maher, Aaron Rodgers and Charles Barkley.

He asked the board to add three independent directors to increase “diversity of thought.” 

Ramaswamy urged BuzzFeed to publicly apologize to the United States for allegedly lying about Covid-19 and many other issues.

“Address your audience directly and candidly admit: ‘We failed in our obligation to tell you the truth,'” he told BuzzFeed. “By both omission and commission, we repeatedly lied on issues of national importance, and so did the rest of the media.'”

Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s co-founder and CEO, soon responded to this letter in an email.

“Based on your letter, you have some fundamental misunderstandings about the drivers of our business, the values of our audience and the mission of the company,” Peretti argued. 

“I’m very skeptical it makes business sense to turn BuzzFeed into a creator platform for inflammatory political pundits,” he added. “And we’re definitely not going to issue an apology for our Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism.”

He said he “welcomes outside perspectives from shareholders” and would meet with Ramaswamy. 

Peretti stated that Ramaswamy is not in charge of the company and would have to speak with the CEO’s executive assistant to “schedule a time to meet.”

Indeed, while the ex-candidate revealed that he took an 8.3% stake in BuzzFeed’s class A shares, a position he said he keeps increasing, he has little real power over the direction of the company. 

This is because Peretti owns 96% of class B shares, each of which has 50 votes compared to the one vote that a class A share offers. Currently, he has 64% voting power compared to Ramaswamy’s 2.6% voting power.

During an appearance at Turning Point USA’s Americafest in Arizona last December, Ramaswamy told CNN commentator Van Jones to “just shut the f—- up,” a comment that the audience cheered and laughed in support of.

Ramaswamy was in the news recently when he was heard going to the bathroom during a livestream hosted by Elon Musk.