A half-dozen companies kicking the tires GE NBC Universal Vivendi before putting it: No deals imminent, however, prices
I learned that GE over the past two months has spoken with at least a half dozen tire kickers, either for investment or acquisition of Vivendi’s 20% or more of NBC Universal media company. But tonight, Comcast is denying Internet blog shit “agreement was made” (and the blog has been reversed since the demand very inaccurate). (The conventional wisdom, still unconfirmed, is that Vivendi may decide to sell its 20% of NBC Universal this year since the French company is more interested in expanding in telcom hang on an active nucleus rather than media. Earlier this month, I posted about all the rumors about GE and its 80% owned by NBC Universal, now Vivendi that the post is next. Why now? Sources say that Comcast, for example, might be interested in a 50% stake in NBC Universal. ) So a “what if” scenario is developing between GE and the companies involved include media giants. Because, every November, Vivendi can trigger a right to sell its 20% of NBC Universal, either in the market or the parent General Electric, NBC Universal, which has the right to sell the stake to a third partyThe truth, at the bottom of Comcast sources are telling reporters, is that there is “nothing imminent” and “no price yet,” while looking in the general direction of NBC Universal.
That same year, GE’s NBC Universal was trying to buy, I learned that Comcast also did due diligence on Universal. Last summer, Comcast’s name appeared in the media – ironically, when stock prices reached historic lows – as investors worried the company was hoarding his money to try something along the lines of Comcast 54 billion U.S. dollars no hostile bid for Walt Disney Co. in 2004. (The study was then owned by Vivendi.On 16 September, I posted that one of the “healthier” rumors “that appears in the field of possibilities” about NBC Universal and GE was that Comcast was cooking a deal because the put option by Vivendi coming.
Then on 23 September, I reported that during a visit to the West Coast last week, NBC Universal, Jeff Zucker, the head of both Universal and NBC, “We must be prepared in case of leaving Vivendi for an offer Initial public. ” At the same time, rumors surrounding: Comcast, Time Warner, and, most likely of all Sumner Redstone under water, taking into account the financial situation, ViacomI also reported on 16 September that recently has been asking GE universal and deeper financial information more than ever.
(Time Warner is still smarting from that goodwill amortization $ 11B bid resulting from AOL in 2001.) The problem is that GE’s NBC has always been overrated in the past, and GE seems to be doing that now for a stake in NBC Universal. Moreover, the agreement has to make sense. Both Comcast and Time Warner have built up war chests that their CEOs can spend on a deal like this instead of continuing share repurchases. Meanwhile, if the discussions between GE and Comcast step up, find the media John Malone of Liberty by step in his post DirectTV is in a battle for territory and content with Comcast, the largest provider of U.S. cable servicesAnd there is the possibility that this could be a multi-sided – for example, Comcast and Time Warner and General Electric’s NBC Universal.