NBCUniversal Is Pumping Another $200 Million Into BuzzFeed
NBCUniversal is set to double down on BuzzFeed, with the Comcast-owned media conglomerate closing in on investing another $200 million in the digital player after plowing the same amount into BuzzFeed last year, sources have confirmed to Variety.
The additional investment from NBCU, first reported by Recode, would bring BuzzFeed to nearly $450 million in funding.
NBCU and BuzzFeed reps declined to comment.
In announcing the deal last summer, NBCU chief Steve Burke praised BuzzFeed as a “global company that harmonizes technology, data and superior editorial abilities to create and share content in innovative ways.”
The two companies said they would collaborate on TV and movie projects, as well as joint partnerships with ad agencies and marketers. But so far there’s been little sign of NBCU and BuzzFeed joining forces on any major way initiatives.
The new investment from the Peacock values the company at around $1.7 billion, as reported by Recode. Founded in 2006, BuzzFeed’s other backers include Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, RRE Ventures, SoftBank Capital and Hearst Ventures.
BuzzFeed sees video as a major growth driver of its business, and it’s a big reason NBCU is interested in taking a bigger piece of the company. BuzzFeed this summer reorganized its operations into two divisions — entertainment and news — and under the new structure it plans to integrate video-production teams into both. “As digital video becomes ubiquitous, every major initiative at BuzzFeed around the world will find an expression as video,” BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti wrote in a memo to employees about the change.
Currently, more than half of BuzzFeed’s ad revenue comes from video content (up from 15% at the end of 2014), and within two years the company foresees video representing 75%, according to a New York Times report.
Around the time of its original investment in BuzzFeed, NBCU also invested $200 million in Vox Media, whose sites include the Verge, SB Nation, Curbed and Recode.
Related stories
NBCUniversal, Germany's RTL Extend, Expand Movie, TV Series Pact
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises Launches Telemundo International Studios (EXCLUSIVE)
Get more from Variety and Variety411: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
