The editor of BuzzFeed has had discussions with the company started by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of the late Steve Jobs, about investing in the digital media company’s news division, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.Discussions between Ms Powell Jobs’ company, theEmerson Collective, which last year took a majority stake inThe Atlantic magazine, and Buzzfeed’s editor, Ben Smith, are at a preliminary stage and people close to the talks cautioned that a deal may not materialise.BuzzFeed, which split its business into separate news and entertainment units 18 months ago, has won plaudits for its news coverage but was recently hit by job cuts in London and New York.Its distributed content model, which relies heavily on social media, has also been hit by recent changes to Facebook
’s news feed algorithm, which has relegated professionally produced content below pictures and other posts shared by friends and families.In November, BuzzFeed announced a reorganisation aimed at lessening its reliance on native advertising distributed over Facebook and increasing other sources of sales, including ecommerce, videos and licensing.
Ms Powell Jobs, whose net worth is estimated at more than $20bn by Forbes, founded the Emerson Collective in 2004. The philanthropic organisation is focused on education, environmental issues, immigration reform and social justice initiatives but has recently begun to build a roster of media investments. In July, it took the majority stake in The Atlantic magazine, with plans to take full ownership in the coming years.