Former Republican presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has purchased a minority stake in Buzzfeed, the digital publishing company that shut down its media outlet last year.
Shares of the company skyrocketed more than 50% before the market open on Wednesday.
Ramaswamy acquired a 7.7% stake in Buzzfeed, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday.
Ramaswamy said in the filing that he believes Buzzfeed's stock is undervalued. He is looking to speak with the company's board and management.
Buzzfeed has struggled to prop up sales since it went public in 2021. In late 2022 job cuts began rolling out with the company citing a poor digital advertising environment, then early last year announced that it was shutting down its Pulitzer Prize winning digital media outlet BuzzFeed News.
The corporate parent’s co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said in a memo to staff at the time that in addition to the news division, layoffs would take place in its business, content, tech and administrative teams.
Earlier this month, Buzzfeed reported a first-quarter loss of $35.7 million, or 72 cents per share, on revenue of $44.8 million. Advertising revenue fell 22%, while content revenue declined 19% and the company is projecting a worsening revenue situation.
Ramaswamy suspended his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in January and endorsed former President Donald Trump after finishing a distant fourth in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses.
The son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy entered politics at the highest level after making hundreds of millions of dollars at the intersection of hedge funds and pharmaceutical research, a career he charted and built while graduating from Harvard University and then Yale Law School.
Shares of Buzzfeed Inc., based in New York City, rose 59% to about $4 early Wednesday.
FILE - Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. Ramaswamy had purchased a 7.7% stake in Buzzfeed, the Pulitzer Prize winning digital media outlet that went into restructuring last year. Shares skyrocketed more than 50% before the market open on Wednesday, May 22. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
PHOENIX (AP) — Extreme heat spread across Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Texas, Colorado and Kansas as severe weather swept across many parts of the U.S. on Sunday. There was unseasonable cold in the Pacific Northwest, snow headed to the northern Rocky Mountains and heavy rainfall forecast from the northern Plains to the Upper Midwest.
The National Weather Service estimated that more than 63 million people were under heat advisories on Sunday, stretching from the Southwest northward up through Denver and into Chicago.
Temperatures in Phoenix, which hit 112 degrees Fahrenheit (44.4 Celsius) on Saturday, were expected to reach close to that on Sunday. Weather service forecasters say the first two weeks of June in Phoenix already have been an average of 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than normal, making it the hottest start to June on record.
“We have already seen some pretty significantly high temperatures in our area,” said Ted Whittock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix. “We are recommending that everyone reduce their time outdoors between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., stay hydrated and wear light, looser fitting clothing."
Whittock said the heat in metro Phoenix will ease a bit Monday through Wednesday, with the highs pushing back up as the week progresses, likely prompting another excessive heat warning.
The heat has been especially dangerous in recent years in metro Phoenix, where 645 people died from heat-related causes in 2023 — a record.
The city and Maricopa County have adopted additional measures this year in hopes of keeping people safer, including two new overnight cooling centers where people can rest in air conditioning after the sun goes down. There are more than 100 other cooling centers that have been open since May 1 where people can get cold water and sit in a cool space during daytime hours.
In neighboring New Mexico, a heat advisory was in effect over the weekend for the Chavez County plains including Roswell, where the high was forecast to hit 107 degrees F (41.6 degrees C) on Monday. The high for Albuquerque was forecast for 99 degrees F (37.2 C) on Sunday, cooling slightly to 96 degrees F (37.6 C) on Monday. Highs were expected to approach 105 F (40.6 C) in El Paso, Texas, which has now opened five cooling centers.
Temperatures from the 90s to nearly 100 degrees F (37.7 C) were expected in metro Denver and areas to the south. Thunderstorms were possible in communities north of Denver.
The heat wave was moving westward Sunday into the Plains and the Great Lakes area and was expected to arrive in the Northeast by Tuesday. The threat of thunderstorms with potential high winds and heavy rainfall was increasing in the Chicago area, even as heat indices were forecast to reach near 100 degrees F (37.7 C) through the middle of the week.
As the heat wave spreads eastward, temperatures in Washington and the rest of the mid-Atlantic as well as New England were likely to see highs in the mid- to upper 90s as the week goes on, with excessive humidity making it feel even more oppressive.
The U.S. last year saw the the most heat waves, consisting of abnormally hot weather lasting more than two days, since 1936.
While much of the country swelters, late season snow was forecast for the northern Rockies Monday and Tuesday. Parts of Montana and north-central Idaho were under a winter weather watch, with as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of heavy, wet snow expected in the mountains around Missoula, Montana. As much as 20 inches (51 centimeters) was predicted for higher elevations around Glacier National Park.
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of tropical moisture will bring an increasing threat of heavy rain and flash flooding to the central Gulf Coast late Sunday into Monday. Heavy rain is expected to start Monday morning, with the moisture shifting toward the Gulf Coast by Tuesday.
The intense flooding from heavy rains continued to dissipate in southern Florida, where some areas in and around Miami and Fort Lauderdale were left underwater in recent days as storms dumped up to 20 inches (50 centimeters).
That unnamed storm system coincided with the early start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory.
A boy cools off at a fountain during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A boy cools off at a fountain during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A tug driver pulls a trailer of bags of ice for use in concession stands on the main concourse of Coors Field before the Colorado Rockies host the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game Sunday, June 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A boy cools off at a fountain during hot weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Families wade in ankle deep water at Yards Park Canal Basin, Sunday, June 16, 2024, as temperatures begin to steam up in Washington. The park usually has a waterfall feature which is currently down for maintenance. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Cheryl Batch picks up a bag of ice to use to cool beverages at a stand on the main concourse of Coors Field before the Colorado Rockies host the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game Sunday, June 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A concession worker pulls a tub of ice to a stand on the main concourse of Coors Field before the Colorado Rockies host the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game Sunday, June 16, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A boy cools off at a fountain outside Wrigley Field before a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals as hot weather dominates the weather in Chicago, Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A boy cools off at a fountain outside Wrigley Field before a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals as hot weather descends upon the Chicago area Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
