Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy takes a 7.7% stake in Buzzfeed

Former Republican presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has bought a minority stake in Buzzfeed, the digital publishing firm that shut down its media outlet final 12 months.

Shares of the corporate skyrocketed greater than 50% earlier than the market open on Wednesday.

Ramaswamy acquired a 7.7% stake in Buzzfeed, based on a submitting with the Securities and Alternate Fee late Tuesday.

Ramaswamy mentioned within the submitting that he believes Buzzfeed’s inventory is undervalued. He’s trying to converse with the corporate’s board and administration.

Buzzfeed has struggled to prop up gross sales because it went public in 2021. In late 2022 job cuts started rolling out with the corporate citing a poor digital promoting setting, then early final 12 months introduced that it was shutting down its Pulitzer Prize profitable digital media outlet BuzzFeed Information.

The company mother or father’s co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti mentioned in a memo to workers on the time that along with the information division, layoffs would happen in its enterprise, content material, tech and administrative groups.

Earlier this month, Buzzfeed reported a first-quarter lack of $35.7 million, or 72 cents per share, on income of $44.8 million. Promoting income fell 22%, whereas content material income declined 19% and the corporate is projecting a worsening income state of affairs.

Ramaswamy suspended his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in January and endorsed former President Donald Trump after ending a distant fourth in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses.

The son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy entered politics on the highest degree after making lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} on the intersection of hedge funds and pharmaceutical analysis, a profession he charted and constructed whereas graduating from Harvard College after which Yale Legislation College.

Shares of Buzzfeed Inc., based mostly in New York Metropolis, rose 59% to about $4 early Wednesday.