Former President Donald Trump's Hush Money Trial Continues In New York

Vivek Ramaswamy (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

3 theories on why Vivek Ramaswamy is buying up BuzzFeed

Maybe the media company is his answer to Truth Social?

5/22/24 5:35PM

If you asked me, like, eight months ago, what would be the funniest activist investment into a struggling public company, I think “Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy making a strategic investment in BuzzFeed” would have been a top five answer.

This morning, we got to see that fantasy come to life, as former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy announced that he had taken an activist stake in BuzzFeed, acquiring 2.7 million shares between $1.47 and $2.51 per share, and call options representing an additional 210,000 shares with a $2 strike price.

The filing’s Purpose of Transaction states that, “The Reporting Person (Vivek) will seek to engage in a dialogue with the Issuer's Board of Directors (the "Board") and/or management about numerous operational and strategic opportunities to maximize shareholder value, including a shift in the Company's strategy.”

My question is, what strategic opportunity is Vivek considering at this point?

An timeline of the events that led us here:

June 2021: BuzzFeed announced that it was going public through a $1.5 billion reverse merger with a SPAC in June 2021, and it was acquiring Complex Networks for $300 million ($200 million in cash, and $100 million in BuzzFeed equity).

December 2021: Days before BuzzFeed went public, 94% of the SPAC’s sponsors redeemed their shares. In SPAC deals, investors can redeem their shares for $10 cash before the deal closes, leaving BuzzFeed with just $16 million in cash in the SPAC’s trust, as well as a $150 million convertible note that it raised to help fund the Complex acquisition.

April 2023: BuzzFeed shut down its BuzzFeed News arm, and the company laid off 180 employees.

June 2023: BuzzFeed received a delisting notice from Nasdaq, as its stock price was floundering below $1.

February 2024: BuzzFeed sold Complex for $108.6 million, or roughly one third of its purchase price, and used about $66 million of the cash to pay off a revolving credit facility and redeem a portion of its convertible notes due in 2026.

And, according to their Q1 earnings report released 9 days ago, BuzzFeed lost $27 million on $45 million in revenue. The outlook isn’t good!

Of course, these are rookie loss numbers for recently IPO’d media companies. Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, disclosed a net loss of over $327 million in Q1, on total revenue of $770,500.

I have three hypotheses:

Vivek has a plausible vision to return BuzzFeed to its former glory.
Vivek thinks he has a plausible vision to return BuzzFeed to its former glory, but the company is probably cooked.
After a poor finish in the Republican primaries, Vivek decided to emulate Trump to prepare for a 2028 run, and, as part of the decision, he found it necessary to, like Trump, own a large stake in a publicly traded media company.

Whatever the reason, Vivek’s purchase inspired investor confidence, with BuzzFeed finishing the day up 20%.

Max Knoblauch21h

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones5/29/26

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.