Comcast Corporation announced December 3 that it had agreed to acquire 51 percent of NBC Universal, Inc., from General Electric Company. Comcast will pay GE $6.5 billion in cash and contribute its cable channels, among them E!, Style, Versus, and the Golf Channel, to NBC Universal, which will take on another $9.1 billion in debt and distribute the money to GE.??
In 2004 NBC and Universal Studios were combined into a company in which GE had an 80 percent stake and Vivendi SA held 20 percent. In order to sell the company to Comcast, GE is first buying Vivendi’s stake for $5.8 billion. After the sale to Comcast goes through, GE will be left with 49 percent of NBC Universal. It will have the right to sell half of this stake to Comcast three-and-a-half years after the deal closes, and the remainder seven years after close.
