BuzzFeed Soars on Meta Deal Reports, Plans to Use OpenAI

The stock was 19% higher in extended trading, having more than doubled in value earlier in the day as a Wall Street Journal report said it would use ChatGPT creator OpenAI for content.

Buzzfeed, in an email response to Reuters, said «we don’t use ChatGPT – we use OpenAI’s publicly available API (application programming interface)».

Earlier in the day, the stock jumped 50% on a separate Journal report that said Meta was paying BuzzFeed millions of dollars to bring more creators to Facebook and Instagram.

The deal, struck last year, was valued at nearly $10 million and BuzzFeed will help generate content for Meta platforms and train creators to grow their online presence, according to the report, citing people familiar with the situation.

“In 2023, you will see AI-inspired content move from an R&D stage to part of our core business, enhancing the quiz experience, informing our brainstorming and personalizing our content for our audience,” said the BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Peretti in a memo to employees reviewed by Reuters.

The stock closed at $2.09 after hitting a high of $2.45.

Indicating interest from retail traders, BuzzFeed shares were among the top three orders on Fidelity’s platform on Thursday.

Shares of the company, valued at $132 million, have fallen more than 90% at Wednesday’s close since their IPO in December 2021 thanks to a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) .

The company said last month it would cut about 12% of its workforce to control costs. Its net loss in the third quarter had widened to $27 million from $3.6 million a year ago.

Reporting by Medha Singh and Shreyaa Narayanan in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Ankika Biswas; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Sriraj Kalluvila and Devika Syamnath

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