Vivek Ramaswamy reportedly proposed three right-wing directors during a meeting with BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti, revealing he would increase his stake in the struggling media company.
Mr. Ramaswamy, a biotech mogul who ran for the Republican nomination but then dropped out and endorsed former President Donald Trump, held a Zoom call with Mr. Peretti last Thursday. Axios reported on Monday.
The meeting was attended by two people Ramaswamy wants to add to the company’s board of directors: Chris Balfe, a partner at digital marketing firm Red Sheet Ventures, and podcaster Patrick Bett-David.
Ramaswami also wants to add Outkick founder Clay Travis as a third person to the board, a move Axios reported, who did not attend the meeting but was briefed on the details.
The current board of directors consists of five members. Ramaswamy wants to expand the board to eight members.
The news site reported that the talks were cordial and that the two sides agreed to meet in person later this summer or early fall.
Ramaswamy said on Monday he had increased his stake in BuzzFeed to 8.9 percent from the 7.7 percent he reported last month.
Ramaswami told Axios the meeting was “productive.”
A BuzzFeed representative told the site: “We appreciate Vivek Ramaswamy’s recommendation, which will be sent to the governing body following the proper process, which he will no doubt be aware of.”
The Washington Post has reached out to Ramaswamy, BuzzFeed, OutKick and Red Seat Ventures for comment.
Shares of BuzzFeed, which shut down its once-popular news site last year, surged more than 16% as of around 2 p.m. Eastern time on Monday. The stock was trading at about $2.48 a share.
When news broke that Ramaswami had initially owned 7.7% of the stock, the stock price soared to over $3 a share before falling back to around $2.
Peretti requested a meeting with Ramaswamy after he wrote BuzzFeed a letter last month asking the company to appeal to a more conservative audience.
Ramaswamy called on the company to emphasize “diversity of thought” and named right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, centrist comedian Bill Maher, former basketball player Charles Barkley and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers as possible candidates for new BuzzFeed hires.
In 2017, BuzzFeed published the controversial “Steele Dossier,” which contained unproven claims about ties between former President Donald Trump and Russia, fueling public “distrust of the media.”
“Differentiate yourself from competitors by openly acknowledging your past journalistic failings and redefine BuzzFeed’s brand around the pursuit of truth,” Ramaswamy wrote in the letter.
Peretti, who has effective veto power over any proposed changes to the company’s board, countered that Ramaswamy had a “fundamental misunderstanding” of how BuzzFeed operates, adding that BuzzFeed “will never apologize for our Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism.”
Earlier this year, BuzzFeed reported a loss of $35.7 million, or 72 cents per share, on first-quarter revenue of $44.8 million.
The company is forecasting a worsening profitability situation, with advertising revenue down 22% and content revenue down 19%.
Outkick, a sports and political news and commentary site, is a subsidiary of Fox Corporation, a sister company of News Corp, parent company of The Washington Post.
