NBCUniversal Invests $500 Million in Snap Inc IPO

Steve Burke’s digital initiative continues with Snapchat parent

NBCUniversal's Steve Burke
Joan E. Solsman

NBCUniversal invested $500 million in Snap Inc.’s IPO, according to CNBC.

Due to the Snapchat parent’s same-day New York Stock Exchange share price surge of 44 percent, that investment is now worth $720 million. Not bad for a Thursday.

Steve Burke’s company isn’t cashing out this morning, however: NBCU has agreed to hold the SNAP shares for at least one year, per CNBC’s sources. This particular investment is as much about the partnership as the cash. After all, the only other major strategic investors in Snap are Alibaba and Tencent, which makes NBCUniversal the only U.S. company that got in on the ground floor.

Burke has been throwing lots of money at digital lately — and with a clear purpose. The company recently invested $400 million in Buzzfeed and $200 million in Vox. NBCUniversal also bought AwesomenessTV through Comcast’s acquisition of DreamWorks Animation.

This specific deal allows NBCU to create new programming using Snapchat and Snap’s other brands, which are a big hit with millennials.

The Snapchat parent had its IPO and hit the open NYSE market on Thursday. The initial public offering priced shares at $17 apiece. On the open market, they sold for as much as $26.05 each. Eventually, Snap’s stock settled in at $24.48 per share. That means the opening day market cap valued Snap Inc. at $29 billion, or more than Dish Network, Kellogg, Sysco and Viacom.

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