Benjamin Mullin
BuzzFeed Inc. is close to a deal to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, according to people familiar with the situation, part of a plan to consolidate other players in digital media.
BuzzFeed founder and Chief Executive Officer Jonah Peretti could announce a deal with 890 5th Avenue Partners Inc. — a blank-check company named after the headquarters of Marvel’s Avengers superheroes and founded by investor Adam Rothstein — as early as this week, the people said.
The merger deal would generate capital to pursue additional acquisitions, including Complex Networks, a digital publisher that specializes in streetwear, music and pop culture. BuzzFeed is vying for greater scale to better compete for online ad dollars with tech giants such as Alphabet Inc.’s /zigman2/quotes/202490156/lastsale GOOGL +0.07% /zigman2/quotes/205453964/composite GOOG +0.16% Google, Amazon. com Inc. /zigman2/quotes/210331248/composite AMZN -0.66% and Facebook Inc. .
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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