On March 12th, 2023 a user by the name of @Heskicks took to twitter to call out Complex for not paying him for two months. The user claims that his youtube channel with over 600 thousand subscribers has been partnered with Complex since 2014, but since the acquisition of Complex by Buzzfeed, payments have stopped for two months. Since then many other partners have come forward to reveal that they have also failed to receive payment since January.
The partnership was simply to add premium ads on the channel when complex sold said products, @Heskicks claims that was next to never and was essentially a non-factor for his youtube channel. Another user by the name of @ToNYd2WiLD also took to twitter to announce he also has failed to receive the payment that was agreed upon, no word if it was the same type of deal. Regardless the fact of the matter remains that the terms of the deal have not been met.
In 2021 Buzzfeed bought out Complex Networks for $300 Million dollars, while this move shocked many in the culture Buzzfeed reassured the public that it was only going to amplify what Complex already had going on. This excited the public, but since the promise Buzzfeed has failed to live up to the expectations it set upon itself. BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti stated that the company is projecting $500,000,000 in revenue this year, and through the acquisition has “the scale to influence how the larger media industry works and help shape a better model for the future.” Over the past couple of years Buzzfeed has been losing money and have been forced to make layoffs within the company. Buzzfeed looks to be a failing company with rumors of bankruptcies being in their future, when they announced a 12% company layoff nobody knew that this would include cutting off Complex staff.
Unfortunately it seems as though the state of things at Buzzfeed is only going to get worse, the company is not taken seriously. It posts irrelevant content that the public has no interest in, for example they write articles titled "Dear Men, Please Stop Wearing Cargo Shorts" these types of articles seem to be just filler content. Buzzfeed might have made the wrong decisions when making budget cuts and may have let the wrong people go. If the company declares bankruptcy it may be in the content creators best interest to seek legal advice.
The news is still in the very early stages, but here at SiteSupply we'll keep you updated with details of the situation as they become available. We hope that everyone involved gets the money they agreed upon, but for now neither Complex nor Buzzfeed have commented on the situation. For more on the news unfolding in the culture, and to stay up to date with the latest sneaker releases and news, connect with us on Instagram and Twitter.