BuzzFeed’s expected IPO is now expected to be MIA.
The 11-year-old digital publisher once famous for lightweight “listicles” will likely push back plans to go public next year, as it has fallen heavily behind projected revenue growth, according to a report on Thursday.
Revenue in 2017 is expected to come in $70 million short of the $350 million target.
The BuzzFeed board, upset at revenue plans coming off the rails, convened a recent board meeting that “took management to task,” according to The Wall Street Journal (paywall), which first reported on the forecasted revenue shortfall.
BuzzFeed had no comment on IPO speculation — but in a statement to The Post, the company called itself “very well-positioned heading into 2018.”
“With a strong, growing portfolio of brands in BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed News, Tasty, Nifty and more, we have greater audience reach and a more diversified business than ever,” it said.
To be sure, BuzzFeed remains on a growth track: Its revenues have risen from an estimated $170 million in 2015 all the way to $250 million in 2016.
This year, revenue is expected to rise 12 percent, to $280 million, according to the report.
Yet few experts would consider the increase as justifying the $1.7 billion valuation — an amount equal to six times sales — that BuzzFeed achieved when NBCUniversal invested $200 million in the company last year.
A media banker who works with print and digital properties noted that both types of publications are facing advertising woes.
But it is unexpected that such digital high-flyers as BuzzFeed, Vice and Vox are now facing the same headwinds that have confronted their print counterparts for years, the media banker noted.
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti attributed his company’s recent decision to accept banner ads, which it previously dismissed as annoying clutter, to a desire to make money.
BuzzFeed previously relied on “native ads” — sponsored material resembling the site’s editorial content — before determining they’re hard to produce at a desirable scale.