BuzzFeed offloads “Hot Ones” to pay down debt as digital media sizes down

First we fund… BuzzFeed yesterday said it was selling “Hot Ones” parent First We Feast for $83M to a group of investors led by the show’s founder, Chris Schonberger, and host Sean Evans. First We Feast has 14M subscribers on YouTube, where its “Hot Ones” videos reliably attract tens of millions of viewers eager to see Evans interview celebs like Shaq and ScarJo as they eat increasingly spicy chicken wings. While First We Feast’s popularity is heating up, BuzzFeed’s been struggling: the company once known for its quizzes and listicles said it’ll use the $83M from the sale to help pay down its $124M debt due this month.

• First We Feast was the last piece left from BuzzFeed’s $294M acquisition of media co Complex, which it sold off last year at a $185M loss (it only kept First We Feast).

Which Disney princess are you?... The quirky-quiz era is over: BuzzFeed’s value has plummeted from $1.5B when it went public in 2021 to $169M now. After shedding Complex and shuttering BuzzFeed News, the company’s left with its main site, the Huffington Post, and food-vid-focused Tasty. Media rivals are also downsizing: Vox Media announced layoffs last week across Thrillist, PopSugar, and Eater, which will essentially shut down Thrillist. Last year, Vice Media filed for bankruptcy, and this year said it’d lay off hundreds of workers.