After BuzzFeed announced on Monday that Byron Allen is acquiring a majority stake for $120 million, former employees at the once-high-flying media darling are taking the news hard.

Although stock rose by 100% on Tuesday after news of Allen’s deal broke, it’s a far cry from the company’s worth at its height.

In 2014, then-CEO and founder Jonah Peretti (now president of BuzzFeed AI) turned down a reported $650 million offer from Disney.

“Every time I think about the Disney offer that was rumored when I was there, I get mad,” a former employee tells me, saying the deal with Allen, funded with $20 million in cash and a $100 million promissory note due in five years, “shows the hubris of leadership prior to going public.”

Once dominating Facebook newsfeeds in the mid-2010s — with viral posts, GIF-packed listicles and questions like “What Is Your Inner Potato?” — BuzzFeed has become a relic of the internet of yore, and a cautionary tale with a $57.3 million net loss in 2025.

“You can take a glance at the numbers of BuzzFeed Video for an understanding of how it’s tanked from leading cultural zeitgeist to laughably irrelevant,” an ex-BuzzFeeder says, pointing to its YouTube channel that now scarcely breaks 10,000 views on its videos, despite boasting nearly 20 million followers.

“It’s a joke now, honestly. I’m not sure what plans Allen has for the company, but it will be an uphill battle, in my opinion.”

A chatroom for former BuzzFeeders was in a state of confusion upon seeing the news of the Allen acquisition, with many raising eyebrows at the valuation and wondering what the media entrepreneur sees in the brand or how he’ll make a profit.

Then again, one ex-BuzzFeed writer says Allen — whose company owns the Weather Channel, HuffPost, 13 network affiliate stations and 10 24-hour HD television networks — might be perfectly suited to front the new BuzzFeed, since “He’s kind of the king of slop.”

Allen told the Hollywood Reporter that he wants to take over Starz next.