Even a fresh influx of cash couldn’t keep online entertainment network Buzz Media (formerly Buzznet) from cutting staff: the company told paidContent that it is laying off more than 20 percent of its team today, leaving it with roughly 75 employees. The layoffs come as Buzz Media puts the brakes…

Buzznet, which runs niche sites covering mostly entertainment topics (music, celebrity and others), has raised $12.5 million in a round led by Focus Ventures that also included Anthem Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures. Buzznet also announced that it will change its name to Buzz…

One of the founding senior executives is leaving TMZ, the celebrity site owned by Time Warner: Alan Citron, the longtime GM of TMZ, is leaving to join pop-culture focused social media firm Buzznet as the head of what it calls “Special Projects”. In this newly created position, Citron will advise…

UMG-backed Buzznet continues to roll up independent music sites. The latest acquisition is Absolute Punk an “alternative music” (haven’t heard that phrase in a while) community site. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, follows recent acquisitions of Stereogum and Idolator, formerly a Gawker Media site. The acquisition helps Buzznet expand…

As we reported first two weeks ago, Universal Music has officially announced its investment in music social network and destination Buzznet...the size was not disclosed, but we reported a total investment of up to $25 million, which includes other investors as well. This partnership marks one of the first times…

In his memo announcing the sale of three blogs, Gawker chief Nick Denton explained that the sites would be better fits in their new families. Buzznet, the LA-based music music site that’s acquiring Idolator, has made its own announcement explaining the move. The site, which will complement the recently acquired…

Blog network Gawker Media is playing gin again, laying down three sites, while picking up none. In an internal email, via SAI, Gawker chief Nick Denton announced that music blog Idolator would be sold to Buzznet (which recently bought music blog Stereogum), travel blog Gridskipper would go to Lockhart Steele’s…

Buzznet, the LA-based pop culture site, has confirmed its acquisition of Stereogum, as we first reported last weekend. The announcement is light on details, except that it plans to launch a spinoff site, Videogum, that will go live next week. The site will focus on television and movies and other…

A day after we broke the news on Buzznet’s latest funding and wondered who they’d be buying, Mashable claims, citing sources, that it has bought Qloud, the DC-based social music company that claims backing from Revolution LLC. SocialTimes reports the same and says an announcement is imminent. Deal terms have…

Pop culture-focused social media site Buzznet, based in Los Angeles, has raised a big-ish third round of funding, as much as $25 million, we have learned, and that Universal Music-owned Interscope has invested a few million in it. We haven’t been able to confirm the other investors, but last year…

Stereogum founder Scott Lapatine and investors Bob Pittman, of the Pilot Group, Sling Media’s Jason Hirschhorn, have traded their equity stakes in the indie music blog for an ownership percentage of pop culture community site BuzzNet, NY Post reports. Citing an unidentified source, the deal estimated Stereogum’s value at $5…