NBCUniversal poised to invest in BuzzFeed, Vox Media

NBCU’s “handshake” agreement with BuzzFeed would value the the New York-based company at about $1.5 billion, as said by a Re/code report citing anonymous sources.

As mentioned by Recode, NBCU is “close” to closing a pair of deals that would give it stake in both BuzzFeed and Vox Media. The company has already raised million from Andreessen Horowitz in August 2014, putting its valuation at $850 million. NBCU is also exploring a separate investment into Vox Media that would value the tech and lifestyle news network at $850 million. BuzzFeed’s early investors could also part with shares, owing to connected secondary sales.

The move is NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke’s mad dash for millennials, who have been departing legacy media like outlets like broadcast and cable news in droves in the second screen and cord cutting era.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that NBCUniversal was in preliminary talks with BuzzFeed, among other media properties including Vice Media and Business Insider, to take equity in these companies or acquire them.

NBCU and Vox declined to comment.

Jonah Peretti of BuzzFeed speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt New York on April 29, 2013.

BuzzFeed, which had previously considered selling to Disney, did more than $100 million in revenue past year. The company hopes that its native ads would help it get there, but given the latest partnership, the projections might exceed it for 2016, particularly if NBCU and BuzzFeed settle on a partnership that enhances the digital publishing website’s reach.