NEW YORK - BuzzFeed is shutting down its namesake news division, which rose from a quirky digital upstart to a Pulitzer Prize-winning operation, but fell prey to the punishing economics of digital publishing that has laid low many of its peers.

It is a sobering end for a pioneering publication once seen as a serious challenger to legacy media outlets that had been slow to adapt to the Internet, and closes the final chapter of a venture capital-fuelled digital era that left an indelible mark on how journalism is produced and consumed.

When BuzzFeed News was founded in 2011, in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, it explored stories both slight and serious through listicles and clickbait-style headlines designed to go viral on social media.

That mirrored the practice of its parent company, an Internet laboratory of sorts that chief executive Jonah Peretti started in 2006.

The news operation soon drew attention for its ambitious sharp reporting, however, and went on to open overseas bureaus and invest in investigative reporting.

But for all its accomplishments, the news division failed to make money, unable to square the reliance on digital advertising and the whims of social media traffic with the considerable costs of employing journalists around the world.

The closing of the news division is part of a broader round of job cuts at BuzzFeed, Mr Peretti said in an e-mail to employees on Thursday.

The shutdown of the news division will affect about 60 people, some of whom will be offered jobs at other parts of the company. The company will also cut 120 people across its business, content, tech and administrative teams.

The decision is the latest in a series of financial setbacks faced by digital media companies. Once the focus of enormous optimism and investment from industry titans including Walt Disney Co. and Comcast, new media companies such as BuzzFeed, Vox Media and Vice Media have failed to live up to their formerly lofty valuations.

Vox laid off 7 per cent of its staff in January, blaming the uncertain economic climate. Vice, which has struggled financially for years, is desperately seeking a buyer.

On Thursday, Insider announced that it was laying off 10 per cent of its staff in the United States, a move the company attributed to broader economic headwinds. NYTIMES