NBCUniversal invested a whopping $500 million in Snapchat parent company Snap’s IPO, as “part of a strategic investment and partnership,” CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin first reported. (Business Insider confirmed the $500 million number.)
After Snap popped 44% on day one, that stake is worth around $720 million, a cool $220 million up. Not bad for a single day.
Sorkin noted that NBC appears to be the only media company with a strategic stake in Snap so far – the other strategic investors are tech companies Alibaba and Tencent.
But it certainly isn’t NBC’s only big strategic investment in digital media. In a note to employees, obtained by Recode’s Peter Kafka, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke said the Snap investment fit into a $1.5 billion push into digital businesses. The company invested in BuzzFeed for the second time late last year, bringing its total to $400 million in the company, and has put $200 million in Vox.
NBC courted Snap CEO Evan Spiegel “for the past year” CNBC reported. The companies also worked together (with BuzzFeed as well) on the Olympics, which snagged a massive 2 billion views.
"Evan Spiegel and his talented team have done an outstanding job building Snap into an extremely innovative and relevant company, attracting a massive, dedicated and young audience," Burke wrote.
NBC has agreed to hold the shares for at least a year, according to CNBC.