FILE PHOTO: A screen announces the debut of BuzzFeed Inc. at the Nasdaq Market in Times Square in New York City, U.S., December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
(Reuters) -British media group The Independent is in talks to take control of BuzzFeed and Huffington Post's operations in the UK and Ireland, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The Independent will assume all editorial and commercial control of BuzzFeed in the UK under a licensing deal for its various brands, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the talks.
The financial terms were not immediately available, the FT reported.
BuzzFeed and The Independent did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The report comes at a time when major media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and the Business Insider, have cut jobs in a bid to cut rising costs.
BuzzFeed, which shuttered its news unit in April last year, was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Johnson, and went public in 2021 through a blank-check merger.
Shares of BuzzFeed jumped about 66% to 29 cents on Thursday.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh, Akash Sriram and Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Shounak Dasgupta)
