After buying a large stake in Buzzfeed, former Republican presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is pushing the struggling digital media company to embrace viewpoint diversity by hiring big-name commentators from across the political spectrum in a bid to turn around its failing business.

In a letter to Buzzfeed’s board of directors, Ramaswamy suggested picking up popular pundits like Tucker Carlson and Bill Maher as part of a broader realignment toward video and audio production. The populist former presidential candidate also proposed the addition of three new members to the Buzzfeed board to advance his vision for the company’s future.

The letter comes about a week after Ramaswamy acquired a 7.7 percent stake in Buzzfeed, amounting to a total 8.37 percent stake. This makes him the second-largest Class A shareholder backing the company.

“BuzzFeed has lost its way,” Ramaswamy wrote in the seven-page letter to Buzzfeed’s board of directors. “The company was a pioneer of the social internet, when referral traffic from Facebook seemed like it would never end. Legacy media companies and publishers believed that BuzzFeed had the secret sauce, so much so that they invested at sky-high valuations, copied the strategy, or both. Now, the social-internet model is dying or dead, and BuzzFeed is caught without a viable strategy.”

Founded in 2006, Buzzfeed became a public company in 2021 at a market valuation of $1.5 billion. It is now valued at $100 million. Ramaswamy said he believes the company, with over $100 million in debt, will go bankrupt by the end of the year.

“You need to pivot, and time is of the essence,” he wrote.

“Go for talents across the political and cultural spectrum. Be bold. Don’t be afraid to challenge your audiences,” he added. “From Candace Owens to Destiny, Tucker Carlson to Bill Maher, Aaron Rodgers to Charles Barkley, no talent should be off-limits to platform, hire, or acqui-hire. No other content publisher is doing this across the spectrum today. By adopting this strategy, you would fill a wide-open vacuum in media and lay the foundation for the most important asset that BuzzFeed lacks today: a brand.”

Since going public, Buzzfeed closed its news operation as part of wider layoffs that affected roughly 180 employees last year. And earlier this year, it cut 16 percent of its staff to reduce costs and sold its Complex media company for $108.6 million.

Ramaswamy didn’t name the three directors he’s proposing to get the organization on the right track, but gave Buzzfeed until July 15 to add them to the board. Offering to set up meetings between the current directors and proposed candidates, he said the company will have a greater shot at success if it takes intentional steps to expand intellectual diversity in its leadership and workforce.

Buzzfeed leans more Democratic, as evidenced by its employees’ political contributions. Only two of the 214 contributions made since 2010 went to Republicans.

“The number doesn’t have to be 50%, but less than 1% is just abysmal for any company that claims to pay homage to ‘diversity’ in its hiring practices,” Ramaswamy wrote. “While your competitors focus on racial and gender diversity in the boardroom, you can become the first media company to expressly select for a diversity of viewpoints in your ranks.”

Moreover, Buzzfeed was advised to restructure its business model, invest in more audio and video content from top creators like Carlson or Maher, and distinguish itself from competitors by apologizing for past journalistic failures.

Ramaswamy cited the company’s reporting on the 2017 Steele dossier, which drove the narrative that former president Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election, as an example of an inaccurate or unverified report. To remediate this oversight, the business entrepreneur suggested Buzzfeed redefine its brand around the pursuit of truth.

“Most media startups fail. Most debt-loaded micro-cap stocks don’t become billion-dollar companies. Most biotech-founders-turned-presidential-candidates don’t become activist investors,” the letter concludes. “BuzzFeed has an opportunity to do things differently. This shareholder asks if you’re willing to seize it.”