NBCUniversal Inc. is reportedly close to making a $250 million investment in digital publishing giant BuzzFeed.

The handshake deal, first reported by Re/code, would value the company at $1.5 billion.

NBCUniversal parent Comcast Corp. did not immediately return a request for comment. Both NBCUniversal and BuzzFeed are headquartered in New York, but have large presences in Los Angeles.

In May, BuzzFeed signed a lease for 22,000 square feet at the Sunset Media Center in Hollywood. The media firm also houses an editorial team in the Fairfax District, and its video department works out of a 40,000-square-foot office across from the ArcLight Cinema in Hollywood.

Re/code reported that BuzzFeed is expecting to generate $250 million in revenue this year, largely from native advertising, the marketing content designed to look like a publisher’s editorial work. These types of ads receive a higher click-through rate than traditional display ads.

El Segundo’s Nativo, one of the largest players in the native ad space, has projected that advertisers will spend $21 billion on native ads by 2018.