Media has been the most important part of people’s lives for decades. This is because they were the only medium through which people could know about what was going on in the world. A few decades ago print media was very big. After that TV media platforms have gained popularity. Currently, the internet is the place where people are looking for all the information they need. You don’t need a newspaper or a TV. All you need is a smartphone and internet connection. If you have them then you can know about anything.
The internet has become more affordable since the past decade which resulted in the increase of internet users around the world. Because of this many people got a chance to open or popularize their media companies. One of the most popular media companies that became successful during this time is BuzzFeed.If you are someone who uses YouTube then you must have watched a Buzzfeed video or two. Buzzfeed is known to make light-hearted content that is easily accessible to the users. It has millions of followers around the world but not many know who actually owns the company. This article will tell you who owns Buzzfeed.
Before knowing about the owner of Buzzfeed let’s look at how it all started
Page Contents
History of Buzzfeed
Buzzfeed was founded by John Peretti and John S. Johnson in the year 2006. Before that John Peretti was working as a director for Eyebeam. John Peretti came up with the idea of sweatshops when Nike launched a service that allowed people to customize their shoes. He shared this idea with his friends on social media after it was rejected by Nike. The post went viral and he was part of an interview on NBC. It is at that time he understood how you could reach millions of people by creating viral content. John Peretti confounded Huffpost along with Ken Lerer and Ariana Huffington. John Peretti confounded BuzzFeed along with John S. Johnson III and Ken Lerer as a side project while he was working for HuffPost. It was a part of HuffPost until 2008.
After that John Peretti had to leave Huffpost to concentrate on Buzzfeed. He had done this because the company’s popularity was growing every month. Buzzfeed was visited by millions of people every week. Buzzfeed quickly became popular on YouTube. This is because of the high quality but short content that they create. This type of content can be viewed anywhere by anyone at any time. Buzzfeed is one of the big companies when it comes to internet media. Not only entertainment but Buzzfeed also focuses on other things like News, sports, cooking, etc. Buzzfeed was a quick success because it learned how to use data science in different ways to increase viewership. Buzzfeed didn’t just rely on the internet but it published its content on various social media platforms like Facebook and Snapchat. Currently, the company has different editions for various countries like India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and other countries.
Who owns Buzzfeed
Now is the answer to the question you all have been waiting for which is “who owns it”. You have to understand that BuzzFeed is not like many companies. It is not a public company but it is a private company. There are no institutional shareholders of this company. During all these years the company never went public but had a lot of investors. So as of now, there are only individuals who are important to the company.
Let’s look at the people who own Buzzfeed.
John Peretti
John Peretti is not only the co-founder of HuffPost and BuzzFeed but also the developer of reblogging. Reblogging is when a person posts the content of another person by indicating the source of the original content. Peretti was born in California. Peretti attended the University of California where got a degree in environmental studies. After that, he taught computer science classes at a school. Peretti got his post-graduation from MIT. Today the net worth of John Peretti is estimated to be $200 million.
Johnson S. Johnson III
Johnson S. Johnson III is the great-grandson of Robert Johnson who is the co-founder of Johnson and Johnson. He is an American entrepreneur, filmmaker, and philanthropist. He may be the co-founder of Buzzfeed but there are a lot of other companies that he founded. John founded Eyebeam, the filmmakers collaborative, Harmony labs, and Screenwriters Colony. John went to Columbia University and graduated with a master’s degree in Research Methodology and Quantitative When John founded Eyebeam he hired Peretti as the director of the research and development team. After that, they co-founded Buzzfeed in 2006 along with Ken Lerer.
Conclusion
These are the people who own Buzzfeed. If you want to learn more about how the company became so popular you can also check out the article that explains the business model of Buzzfeed. You can learn how it works and how it makes money. Not only that but you can also learn more about the people and institutions that own big companies. If you want to know who owns Walmart then click here.
