BuzzFeed launches AI apps as it shifts strategy

Jonah Peretti introduced Branch Office, a BuzzFeed spin-off building consumer AI apps focused on creativity and social connection.

BuzzFeed reported a US$57.3 million net loss last year and shifting focus to studio IP and new AI apps.

At the event, Bill Shouldis, director of product at BuzzFeed and founder of Branch Office, presented two main apps.

BF Island is a group chat with AI photo editing, and an in-app library of online trends and memes.

Conjure prompt once-daily photos and includes “AI spirit” that suggests themes.

Peretti also introduced Quiz Party, a social app for taking BuzzFeed quizzes with friends.

The apps could evolve to include video, audio, prototyping, and potential integration with Claude Code.

Attracting and retaining users remains the key challenge before these AI apps can prove their appeal.

🔗 Source: TechCrunch

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

BuzzFeed ended 2025 with $8.5 million in cash and cash equivalents. It used $18.7 million of net cash flows from operations that year and flagged “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue 1.
A debt covenant (a requirement tied to its borrowing) requires at least $5.0 million in cash. That leaves little cushion 1.
BuzzFeed launched AI apps after it received a Nasdaq notice because its Class A share price stayed below $1.00. The notice raises delisting risk unless compliance returns 2.
The apps also serve as a bid for survival. The stock has lost 98% of its value since it went public via a blank-cheque merger (a deal where a public shell company acquires a private company) in 2021 3.

BuzzFeed once chased scale and viral clicks. That approach helped support a $1.7 billion valuation 4.
Digital advertisers have moved spending toward social platforms such as TikTok and Meta Platforms’ Instagram. That trend has squeezed companies like BuzzFeed 3.
Consumer apps offer a way to reduce reliance on those platforms. They also build a more direct tie to users.
Peers such as Vice Media have faced bankruptcy. The pattern suggests that large audiences on other companies’ platforms no longer support a durable business model 4.