Started from the Bottom: De-SPACs that withdrew or significantly cut guidance in their first earnings report as a public company

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As BuzzFeed Inc. was exploring plans to go public earlier this year, it ran into a problem: Executives at the digital-media outlet’s biggest investor, NBCUniversal, thought they were getting a bad deal.

At issue was BuzzFeed’s plan to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Executives at NBCUniversal were frustrated that the deal valued BuzzFeed at $1.5 billion, below the level where it had invested years earlier, people familiar with the situation said. The unit of Comcast Corp. was facing a substantial loss on the deal, while earlier investors would come out ahead.

NBCUniversal ultimately approved the deal after reaching an agreement in April with BuzzFeed Chief Executive Jonah Peretti that guaranteed it concessions while still leaving it facing a loss of roughly $100 million, the people said.

Tensions erupted during a BuzzFeed board call in the closing stages when Patrick Kerins, from early investor New Enterprise Associates and a proponent of the deal, launched into a tirade at NBCUniversal, criticizing its posture in the negotiations and the concessions it had won, people familiar with the deliberations said. He raised his voice as NBCUniversal executive Maggie McLean Suniewick listened in, they said.

Mr. Kerins declined to comment. NBCUniversal said in a statement it supports the deal. “I’m confident our investors, partners and shareholders will be pleased with the results,” Mr. Peretti said in a statement on the deal.

Near the end of last year, BuzzFeed began reaching out to SPACs, hoping to strike a deal to take the company public, according to a person familiar with its pitch to investors.

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By February, 890 5th Avenue Partners (ENFA: $9.89)—a SPAC named for the headquarters of Marvel’s Avengers superheroes—had reached out to BuzzFeed, and the firms were in discussions, filings show. The deal would help finance the acquisition of youth-media company Complex Networks, adding another company to a portfolio that already included digital publisher HuffPost.

By the middle of May, BuzzFeed and 890 had hammered out the contours of a deal. The combined company, boosted by its acquisitions, expects to generate $654 million in revenue by 2022, with $117 million in adjusted profits, and would increase sales by about 26% annually and reach $1 billion by 2024, according to an investor presentation.