NBCUniversal announced Tuesday it will make a $200 million investment into social news site BuzzFeed.
The legacy media company is set to distribute its content on the viral news and video platform while also bringing BuzzFeed to some of its broadcast properties, TheWrap reported last week. The deal will put BuzzFeed at a projected $1.5 billion valuation.
“BuzzFeed has built an exceptional global company that harmonizes technology, data and superior editorial abilities to create and share content in innovative ways,” said NBC Universal Steve Burke. “They reach a massive, loyal audience and have proven to be among the most creative, popular and influential new media players. We are pleased to be making this investment and for our companies to partner and work together.”
The NBCUni and BuzzFeed official deal announcement comes just six days after NBCUniversal made a $200 million investment in Vox Media. The Vox deal has a pre-money valuation of $850 million, according to Re/code, also putting the company in the $1 billion club.
NBCUni’s deal with Vox will feature a digital advertising collaboration, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff said. The companies will also work on video advertising and programming and it’s expected that Vox Media staffers will be popping up more on CNBC and NBC.
Both deals represent the current industry sea change where big media behemoths lean on digital powerhouses to tap into younger audiences who aren’t tuning into older, staid formats like the evening news or Sunday shows.
Read the official announcement from NBCUniversal:
NBCUniversal and BuzzFeed today announced that NBCUniversal has agreed to make a $200M equity investment in BuzzFeed, the technology-driven global media company that reaches over 200M monthly unique visitors and 1.5B monthly video views.
“BuzzFeed has built an exceptional global company that harmonizes technology, data and superior editorial abilities to create and share content in innovative ways,” said Steve Burke, CEO, NBCUniversal. “They reach a massive, loyal audience and have proven to be among the most creative, popular and influential new media players. We are pleased to be making this investment and for our companies to partner and work together.”
“It’s a fascinating time for the media industry; social, mobile, digital, and broadcast platforms are converging to create new opportunities to connect with global audiences, and we’re excited to partner with NBCUniversal to combine our respective strengths to build the future of news and entertainment,” said Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s Founder and CEO.
As part of the investment, the companies will also explore strategic partnerships across both organizations in the coming months.
“BuzzFeed and NBCUniversal will be great strategic partners and we both have a lot to offer the other,” said Kenneth Lerer, BuzzFeed’s Executive Chair