‘Anti-Woke Warrior’ Vivek Ramaswamy Acquires Activist Stake in BuzzFeed: ‘Stay Tuned’

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur whose unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for president thrust him onto the national stage, has acquired an activist stake in struggling media company BuzzFeed.

An activist stake means the fervent Trump ally will have a proactive role in decisions at the company.

According to a May SEC report, the billionaire tech entrepreneur acquired roughly 7.7 % of the company’s shares, at roughly $4 million. The report read in part that Ramaswamy “believes the securities of the Issuer are undervalued and represent an attractive investment opportunity.”

The report also includes language that may cause alarm at a media company known for its liberal politics: “[Ramaswamy] will seek to engage in a dialogue” with the board and management “about numerous operational and strategic opportunities to maximize shareholder value, including a shift in the Company’s strategy.”

Additionally, Ramaswamy may propose “potential changes in the Issuer’s operations, management, organizational documents, Board composition, ownership, capital or corporate structure, sale transactions, dividend policy, and strategy and plans.”

“It’s an interesting bet,” a source close to Ramaswamy told Mediaite on Wednesday. “Vivek, the anti-woke warrior, buying a material stake in one of America’s most woke media entities would signal to this long time investor that he intends to make it a free speech platform.”

“If he turns it around financially, he would have serious street cred for another conservative political move,” the source added. “There is a ton of equity risk however. Certainly not his financial prowess driving this decision.”

BuzzFeed, Inc. has faced extreme turbulence in recent years. The company was crowned the future of media not long after it was founded in 2006 by media wunderkind Jonah Peretti. But the decline of the digital ad market and rise of social media battered BuzzFeed and other outlets that took advantage of the boom in online news. Peretti took BuzzFeed public through a SPAC deal in 2021, but soon layoffs were a regular occurrence. Last year, after shuttering its news division BuzzFeed News, which was famous for publishing the Steele Dossier on Donald Trump, the company sold Complex and in February announced another round of layoffs that cut staff by 16 percent.

Earlier this month Peretti took a pay cut from $325,000 to $115,000 and shifted his compensation to stock, according to an SEC report.

Peretti did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ramaswamy responded to Mediaite’s request with: “Stay tuned.”