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Years ago, I worked as a lawyer for an acquired regional bank. To eliminate redundancies, the new general counsel laid off the lawyers he didn’t need. He posted a schedule with everyone’s name on it, parked himself in an empty office and met each lawyer at the appointed time. If they were fired, they walked out holding a folder. If they kept their job, they walked out empty handed. The rest of the department sat in the hall waiting to see how people emerged, keeping track and calculating odds. The process was cruel, public and unnecessary. And those of us who kept our jobs moved forward with high trepidation and low trust.

In those days, layoffs were used as a last resort: in mergers or extreme financial hardship. Today, they are ubiquitous. In 2023, U.S. layoffs were 98% higher than 2022. And 2024 is not far behind. January felt like open season on employees–especially in the tech sector–with the second highest January layoffs in the past 15 years.

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BuzzFeed bought Complex Networks in December 2021 for around $198 million in cash and $96 million in equity.

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According to the company, the money from the sale will help BuzzFeed, Inc. improve its financial health by reducing debt and increasing liquidity.

Last month, in a financial filing BuzzFeed said that it would have $150 million in debt due by 2026, along with an extra $33.8 million from a line of credit, the New York Times reported.

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With tech layoffs at their highest since the 2001 dot-com crash, the job hunt is getting harder and many in the industry are being forced to settle for pay cuts if they can find a new gig at all.

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