BuzzFeed to open Toronto office

“Are you a Kessel or a Phaneuf?”

“19 Signs You Are From Scarborough”.

Expect these kinds of headlines and more like them to soon compete for your attention. BuzzFeed, the controversial pop news site, will open an office in Toronto this spring.

Betakit reports that at the DX3 conference in Toronto, BuzzFeed’s VP of Global Revenue Keith Hernandez said the company will launch a newsroom in Hogtown.

DX3 is an annual conference focused on digital marketing and advertising.

Buzzfeed, which was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti, is never far from controversy. Last year, Benny Johnson, a writer for the site was fired after it was revealed that he was a serial plagiarizer.

The site has drawn the ire of many, including veteran journalist Frederic Filloux.

“BuzzFeed could in fact embody some version of journalism’s future,” says Filloux. “But if that’s the case, I will quickly resettle in a remote place of New Mexico or Provence. BuzzFeed is to journalism what Geraldo is to Walter Cronkite. It sucks.”

But the criticism must be viewed against the site’s undeniable financial success. BuzzFeed recently scored a $50-million investment from Silicon Valley VC Andreessen Horowitz that valued the company at $850-million.

BuzzFeed reportedly passed $100-million in revenue late last year.

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