This gallery of cat gifs is proudly presented by BuzzFeed and Vox Media owner Comcast Corp., America’s favorite cable company.

That may be a slight exaggeration at this point, but Comcast, America’s most hated company, is now in part powering the gifs at BuzzFeed and the so-called “independent” media provided by Vox Media, Inc. after it invested in both companies via its fully owned subsidiary NBCU.

According to Re/Code who broke the story (and not without irony given they’re fully owned by Vox Media), NBCU is acquiring a $200 million stake in Vox Media on a pre-money valuation of $850 million, suggesting that Vox Media could be worth $1 billion plus.

At the same time the report claims that NBCU is also taking $200 million stake in Buzzfeed but on a larger valuation of $1.5 billion.

It’s not clear exactly how much of each company Comcast through NCBU will hold, as it’s claimed that the deal may include some existing investors selling out of both companies as opposed to being purely a traditional venture capital round.

The Wall Street Journal confirmed the Vox Media investment (Re/Code suggesting that it wouldn’t be announced until later in the week), noting that the new $200 million into the company is on top of an existing 14 percent stake Comcast already holds.

“Vox Media has a great portfolio of premium digital brands that deeply engage broad audiences,” Steve Burke, CEO of NBCUniversal, said in a statement. “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.”

Vox Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Bankoff said separately that the deal will allow Vox Media to tap into resources Comcast and NBCU can provide.

“NBCUniversal is obviously a huge television and entertainment company, so there are a lot of assets they can provide with distribution and production both online and on linear networks as well…our industry is evolving so quickly, and we think this will give us the resources to be independent and strong throughout all the changes.”

At the time of writing, there was no official confirmation of the investment in BuzzFeed.

Independent LOL

Rumors first surfaced in May that Comcast was considering acquiring Vox Media outright, and although that hasn’t happened today, the same concerns then remain as they do now: independence.

A company the size of Comcast may not necessarily influence editorial direction in the publications it owns, but likewise it is unlikely to have a high tolerance for sites it owns in part, or in full, criticizing it and diluting its brand image, even if it is already appalling bad to begin with.

The other thing of note is that it’s unlikely that Comcast would be willing to give up on these investments now it has made them, meaning that at some stage down the line they will become the most likely acquirer of certainly Vox Media, and possibly BuzzFeed; when is speculation but given they’re now a large minority shareholder in both companies, it wouldn’t take much to take over either of the companies.

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