Two claims were sent to the American Arbitration Association on Tuesday on behalf of 77 employees who say BuzzFeed failed to instruct them clearly on how to trade a collection of 900,000 shares when the company went public in December 2021, claiming they suffered because they were not able to sell until the price dropped nearly 60% to less than $5.The employees are asking for compensatory damages estimated at more than $8.7 million, according to the New York Times.
The report notes that they filed the claims because a clause in their contracts requires certain disputes in arbitration instead of in court.“BuzzFeed prioritized communication with former and current employees last year to provide them with the information they needed to manage their equity,” a BuzzFeed spokesperson said in a statement. “It’s regrettable that the stock price declined, but there is no merit to the claims and we intend to rebut them vigorously.