Buzzfeed may as well treat themselves to some good hot wings today, because they just sold the company behind Hot Ones, Sean Evans’ chicken-based interview show, for $82.5 million. According to The New York Times, Evans himself has a bit of a dent in his pocket. The host was one of the show’s consortium of buyers, but his new partial ownership is sure to lead to many more bottles of sauce, both onscreen and off, in the future. Other names in the consortium (led by Soros Fund Management) include Chris Schonberger, the founder of Hot Ones parent company First We Feast, and Mythical Entertainment, the media company created by YouTubers Rhett and Link.
For Buzzfeed, parting with Hot Ones is a chance to pay off a chunk of the $124 million debt the company has racked up over the years. They first acquired the show three years ago as part of their purchase of Complex, a rival digital media company that previously owned Hot Ones‘ parent company, First We Feast. Buzzfeed sold Complex earlier this year for $108.6 million, but is just now letting go of the chicken-wing gauntlet.
While the reasoning behind the sale is clearly economic, it’s also about as 2024 as it gets. Offloading Hot Ones will help transform Buzzfeed into “a media company positioned to fully benefit from the ongoing A.I. revolution,” Buzzfeed founder Joanh Peretti said in a statement. At least Hot Ones flew the coop before its roster of celebrities were forced to pretend to eat an NFT or whatever wacky version of the concept a chatbot would dream up.
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