Monday, August 31, 2015

BuzzFeed May Build the First Major Tech Campus in Downtown Los Angeles!







BuzzFeed Is Laying Groundwork For Major Expansion in Los Angeles


The Wall Street Journal
Reuters
BuzzFeed is eyeing a big expansion in Los Angeles.
The rising digital media star is in discussions to lease a century-old former Ford auto factory on the southeastern edge of Los Angeles’ downtown, according to people familiar with the talks.
The 250,000-square-foot potential lease suggests large West Coast ambitions for the company, which is hot off a $200 million investment from NBCUniversal that valued it at around $1.5 billion. BuzzFeed is considering multiple options in addition to the former Ford factory, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
Under the deal being discussed, BuzzFeed would lease the entire five-story building, which is being redeveloped as an office building by Shorenstein Properties. The building, which once was used for assembling Model Ts and later was used as a toy factory, is roughly as large as BuzzFeed’s Manhattan headquarters. That amount of space typically holds 1,500 to 2,500 employees when laid out as standard office space.
A fast-growing digital media upstart, BuzzFeed has made solid inroads with the 18- to 34-year-old demographic that advertisers frequently target. Through its combination of news, lists, quizzes and advertiser-sponsored content, BuzzFeed drew in 82.4 million unique visitors in July, according to comScore Inc. The company employs more than 1,000 people worldwide and said it took in over $100 million in revenue in 2014.
A large chunk of the company’s current Los Angeles operation is made up of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, a division it has invested heavily in during the past year. It currently employs about 230 people at its Hollywood studio space to create an average of 70-75 short video clips per week.
When the NBCUniversal investment was announced earlier this month, the companies said they would explore a variety of strategic partnerships including collaborating on television content, movies, the Olympics, and joint partnerships with brands and ad agencies.
Should the real-estate deal be completed, it would make BuzzFeed among the largest tech startups in Los Angeles by office-space footprint. At 250,000 square feet, the company would have more space in the city than Amazon or Snapchat, and a similar level to Google, according to real estate services firm JLL.
The company isn’t the only one expanding in Los Angeles right now. Earlier this month, Netflix announced a 200,000-square-foot lease at a new building in Hollywood

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