Hot Ones host and co-creator Sean Evans is among the investors who are taking the hit YouTube show away off BuzzFeed's hands. The media company has sold First We Feast, the brand behind the show, to Evans, podcast company Crooked Media, Soros Fund Management, and other investors for $82.5 million, NBC News reports. Hot Ones, in which Evans interviews celebrities as they eat spicy wings, accounts for most of the 14 million subscribers to First We Feast's YouTube channel, which has more than 4 billion views. The show is "now considered a top booking on many A-listers' press tours," the Hollywood Reporter notes.
First We Feast, which was acquired by BuzzFeed in 2021, will now operate as an independent company. Founder Chris Schonberger, another investor, will be CEO, with Evans serving as chief creative officer, reports Variety. Schonberger said that with the new investment, the brand plans to "expand into exciting new areas—including new platforms, live events, and talent acquisition." Hot Ones will mark its 10th anniversary in March. "The future is spicy, and I can't wait to see what's next," Evans said, promising "hot questions, and even hotter wings."
BuzzFeed, valued at $1.5 billion at the time of its IPO in 2021 but now worth just over $150 million after an 11% drop in its stock Thursday, "has long been trying to right the financial ship," per the Reporter. In a news release, CEO Jonah Peretti said the sale is a big step in BuzzFeed's "strategic transformation into a media company positioned to fully benefit from the ongoing AI revolution." (More BuzzFeed stories.)