NBCUniversal Makes $200 Million Investment in Vox Media

NEW YORK: NBCUniversal has agreed to make a $200 million equity investment in Vox Media, which operates a number of digital brands, including Eater and Vox.com.

Alongside Eater (dining and nightlife) and Vox.com (news), Vox Media operates the brands SB Nation (sports), Polygon (gaming), The Verge (tech and culture), Racked (shopping, beauty and fashion), Curbed (real estate, home and design) and Re/code (technology and business). Rumors began in late July that NBCU was eyeing investments in both digital publisher BuzzFeed and Vox. Nothing has been confirmed regarding a deal with BuzzFeed, though.

“Vox Media has a great portfolio of premium digital brands that deeply engage broad audiences,” said Steve Burke, CEO of NBCUniversal. “Vox Media has strong leadership, top editorial talent and a unique technology platform. We are excited to be making this investment and building a collaborative partnership involving editorial content, advertising and technology.”

“NBCUniversal is the perfect strategic partner for Vox Media as we continue to rapidly grow our audience and business,” added Jim Bankoff, CEO and chairman of Vox Media. “NBCUniversal’s valuable family of properties align especially well with Vox Media’s authoritative, voice-driven brands which span sports, tech, news, fashion, food, and more. We are extraordinarily excited to collaborate in many areas including video programming, brand advertising, cross-promotion, and platform technology to grow existing properties and launch new franchises.”