According to the Financial Times, which first reported the news, BuzzFeed generated total revenues of less than $170 million in 2015, or just 68% of the original target of $250 million. Close on the heels of this shortfall, FT reports the digital publisher is slashing its full-year forecast for 2016 by half, from $500 million to $250 million.

BuzzFeed took issue with some part of the FT’s reporting, although a spokesperson failed to specify which elements were inaccurate, telling the newspaper only: “Regardless of your sources, much of your information is significantly incorrect. We are very pleased with where BuzzFeed is today and where it will be tomorrow. We are very comfortable where the digital content world is going and think we are well positioned.”

Separately, BuzzFeed chairman Ken Lerer disputed the FT’s report, saying it hasn’t reduced its forecast for 2016, although he didn’t share what these numbers were.

Regardless, the latest figures will spur questions among investors and media companies with stakes in BuzzFeed, including venture capital outfit Andreessen Horowitz and NBCUniversal, with investments currently valuing BuzzFeed at around $1.5 billion, despite the fact that it has yet to turn a profit.

Part of the problem may be the difficulties facing BuzzFeed in scaling its branded content business model, which relies heavily on helping court its millennial audience with native advertising. There are also worries about the possible declining effectiveness of native ads, as audiences grow inured to the once-novel tactic.

BuzzFeed isn’t the only big digital publisher carrying the hopes of traditional media companies. AOL acquired The Huffington Post for $315 million, and in August 2014, A&E announced it would invest $250 million in Vice Media, in a deal valuing the latter at $2.5 billion. NBCU also invested $200 million in Vox Media, while German publisher Axel Springer bought Business Insider for $343 million in September.