- Consumer Mood Improves, But Anxiety Over Finances
- Jobless Claims Below 500,000, Durable Orders Slip
- AIG Board OKs CEO Pay; Benmosche Agrees to Stay
- Garlic Price Rises Surpass Gold, Stocks in China
- Obama Going to Copenhagen Climate Summit
- Half of Banks' Losses May Still Be Hidden: IMF Head
- Seeking Deals, Holiday Fliers Get Early Start
- Americans Ditch Planes for Trains this Thanksgiving
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- Topless Business Is Taking Off
- 3 Software Stock Picks from Lazard's Senior Analyst
- Schork Oil Outlook: Gas Bulls Pinning Hopes on Mother Nature
- Toyota Makes Recall Fix And So Long Saab
- Investors Bet on a New Year's Rally For eBay
- Why You Should Play the Reflation Trade: Stock Picker
- Citi Mortgage Reveals What Treasury Won't
- S&P to Hit 1,200 by Year-End: Chief Investor
- Amended Berkshire Hathaway Filing Indicates No Secret Stock Stakes at End of Q3
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Ritz-Carlton ?Struggling? in the US: President
- Garlic Price Rises Surpass Gold, Stocks in China
- Obama Reiterates Commitment to Boost US-India Ties
- Oil Price to Average $75.40 in 2010: Poll
- Half of Banks' Losses May Still Be Hidden: IMF Head
- Americans Ditch Planes for Trains this Thanksgiving
- New-Home Sales Jump 6.2% To Highest Level in Over Year
- Jobless Claims Below 500,000, Durable Orders Slip
Text Size 
The New York Times
General Electric and the cable giant Comcast have moved closer to a deal giving control of NBC Universal to Comcast, and a formal announcement could be made sometime next week, people briefed on the talks said Sunday.
After a series of meetings last week, the two companies reached a tentative agreement on Friday over the main points of a deal, these people said. Comcast [CMCSA
Loading...
()
] would own about 51 percent of NBC Universal, contributing several billions of dollars in cash and its own stable of cable networks to the new venture.
 |
CNBC-parent GE, [GE
Loading...
()
] which currently owns 80 percent of the entertainment company, would retain the other 49 percent and would contribute about $12 billion in debt to the new entity, though it is expected eventually to sell its ownership interest over several years.
Much work remains before the deal can be completed. The main issue is the negotiations with Vivendi, the French conglomerate that owns 20 percent of NBC Universal. Talks with Vivendi are continuing, focused largely on how to reach an acceptable valuation of NBC Universal, these people said. The French media company gained its stake in NBC Universal in 2004 through a deal with GE, which combined NBC with Vivendi’s Universal Entertainment.
 |
AP |
Vivendi’s chief executive, Jean-Bernard Lévy, said at an industry conference last week that his company might seek to sell its stake in NBC Universal through an initial public offering. Under the terms of its agreement with GE, Vivendi has the right from mid-November to mid-December to sell its stake in NBC Universal. But analysts largely expect GE to reach a deal to buy Vivendi’s stake.
Talks with Vivendi may still fall apart, people familiar with the talks cautioned.
Other potential bidders have surfaced, including the News Corporation. But talks between GE and Comcast have advanced far enough that a deal with another company was unlikely, people briefed on the matter said.
Comcast and GE plan to take care of other deal matters, including presentations to credit ratings agencies like Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service, later this week, these people said. Even if a deal is completed by next week, it would still require regulatory approval, a process that could take several months.
If a deal is completed, it would help diversify Comcast’s holdings beyond its cable television operations, a longstanding goal for its chief executive, Brian Roberts. He has been heavily involved in the talks, these people said.
- Here's how key provisions of the health care reform bill would impact your insurance and how you'll pay for it.
- Playboy will outsource its publishing operations in a bid to become profitable again.
- Remember when auto shows were major events where new models could generate buzz?
- After nine years the NBA’s minor league equivalent is finally coming into its own.
- Bill Griffeth is taking a leave of absence from CNBC and Power Lunch for a year. Here's a message from Bill.
- For nearly three decades, these on-call experts have been dishing advice on how to – and not to – cook turkey.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes