HuffPost’s editor-in-chief has resigned after the left-leaning news site was hit by mass layoffs — as anger grows that the parent company is “bowing to MAGA” before Donald Trump takes office this month.
Editor-in-chief Danielle Belton said she was leaving the company late Thursday — two days after the Buzzfeed-owned site announced it was cutting 30 jobs, or 22% of HuffPost’s editorial staff.
“I could not, in good faith, ask others to make this difficult decision without doing the same,” Belton wrote in a memo to staff.
“At my core, I’m a very sensitive and emotional person, which is why I haven’t been so communicative in recent days.”
Executive editors Kate Palmer and Whitney Snyder will take over as editors, Belton added, as the company unveils its “next steps” with the editor-in-chief role.
The layoffs followed a report this summer that former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who owns a minority stake in HuffPost’s parent, had sought layoffs at the company.
News of Belton’s departure and broader cuts related to business challenges sparked outrage at Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti.
“It’s a tough business and I’m not naive about cuts – but is he also another executive bowing to MAGA?” HuffPost National Editor George Zornick posted on X Thursday. “Again, I know layoffs happen. Trust me I know. But the shocking scale of the cuts announced this week doesn’t match the financial information we have for HuffPost. We have been given little, if any, explanation.”
Alexander Kaufman, a senior reporter at HuffPost, shared Zornick’s post on X and added: “In the coming weeks, HuffPost will be laying off a quarter of our newsroom. Under @gzornick’s leadership, my team won awards, delivered top stories, and beat our monthly traffic goals by three times. How does dismantling serve the long-term goals of business or journalism?”
Zornick also shared an excerpt from Peretti’s recent interview with Semaphore following his meeting with Ramaswamy, who bought 9% of Buzzfeed last summer.
He cited the interview, which explores the role that Ramaswamy, who was recently tapped by Trump to lead a newly proposed Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk, might play on the left page.
Ramaswamy “does not have control” of Buzzfeed and expects “to find a way to a successful exit of his investment in BuzzFeed,” the interview said.
Semafor also opined: “perhaps there is a path to successful activism and a bit of political satisfaction on the side. Ramaswamy is also pushing for cost-cutting.”
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