NBCUniversal In Talks To Invest $250 Million In BuzzFeed

The Comcast unit’s investment, which is an effort to attract a younger audience and get a better handle on the digital world, values the digital publisher of lists and quizzes at $1.5B.

Re/code reported on Thursday that the two companies have a handshake agreement for NBCUniversal to invest $250 million into the viral video and news website. NBCUniversal separately is considering increasing its 14% stake in Vox, which NBCUniversal acquired as part of Vox’s purchase of Re/Code, the knowledgeable person said. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that NBCU was exploring possible deals with a range of Internet media companies including BuzzFeed and Vox, as well as Vice Media and Business Insider.

The deal comes a little more than a month after BuzzFeed President Greg Coleman threw cold water on reports that the company was considering an initial public offering, which would allow its investors to cash in on their investments.

NBCUniversal owns channels including USA, Bravo, E! and MSNBC.

“In late 2014, the site received a $50 million investment from Andreessen Horowitz that valued it at $850 million”, the reporters stated.

The company is also in discussions to invest in Vox Media, though the amount has not been disclosed.

NBCUniversal’s CEO Steve Burke is looking to tap into digital audiences to increase its offerings’ appeal to millennials, who are apparently not fond of NBCU’s TV networks. Both BuzzFeed and Vox have upped their activity in online video in the past year, seeing it as critical to their continued growth. A rep for BuzzFeed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Similarly, NBCUniversal could extend BuzzFeed into TV and movies, a stated ambition since BuzzFeed Motion Pictures started up in August after the company’s last big investment.