BuzzFeed hires Guardian's Gibson for UK expansion
Social news group BuzzFeed announced Tuesday it had hired former Guardian senior editor Janine Gibson to lead an expansion push in the British market.
Gibson, who helped establish the British daily's US presence and digital edition and oversaw coverage of Edward Snowden's leaked documents, will be UK editor in chief for the online news organization.
"Janine is uniquely placed to lead a new kind of British news organization, and (executive editor) Luke (Lewis) and I are thrilled she'll be doing that at BuzzFeed," BuzzFeed editor in chief Ben Smith said in a statement.
Gibson, 42, will manage a team of more than 40 reporters and writers based in London and oversee all editorial content for BuzzFeed UK.
"I can't think of a more exciting place in British journalism right now, and am thrilled at the opportunity to further BuzzFeed's reputation as a force for breaking news, insightful reporting, and very good jokes," Gibson said.
Gibson left the Guardian last month after being passed over for the top editor's job.
BuzzFeed said Gibson's hiring was part of "a significant investment in its editorial operations in the United Kingdom," as part of its expanded global presence which includes nine international editions.
BuzzFeed last year announced it had received an injection of $50 million in venture capital led by Andreessen Horowitz, a big Silicon Valley investment firm. News reports said the deal valued BuzzFeed at some $850 million.
The move comes with online news making significant gains in attracting readers, often at the expense of newspapers and other "old media" which have high legacy costs.
BuzzFeed claims to have a global audience of more than 200 million, and more than one billion monthly video views.
© 2015 AFP
