NBCUniversal Invests $200M In Vox Media

NBCUniversal agreed Wednesday to invest $200 million in digital media company Vox Media. The company’s brands include news site Vox, food blog Eater, the sports-focused SB Nation and the tech blog Re/code.

A person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly confirmed to The Associated Press that the investment values privately held Vox at $1 billion. For context, The New York Times Co., which is publicly traded, is valued at about $2.1 billion.

Philadelphia-based Comcast already has a separate investment in Vox through its venture arm, Comcast Ventures.

The investment comes amid the growing popularity of digital media brands, especially among younger people. “Vox Media has a great portfolio of premium digital brands that deeply engage broad audiences,” said Steve Burke, CEO, 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,” said Jim Bankoff, CEO-chairman, 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.”

Vox’s headquarters are in New York and Washington.