General Electric Co. and the French media company Vivendi are $500 million apart on a price for the 20 percent stake Vivendi owns in NBC Universal Inc., published reports say.
Vivendi's 20 percent ownership position is a key part of the complex deal that could lead to the acquisition by Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, of a controlling ownership in media and entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal from GE.
Comcast and GE are in advanced talks that would allow Comcast to gain a 51 percent interest in NBC Universal, an ownership position that could increase to 100 percent over three to seven years, sources say. The talks are progressing, but are not expected to be concluded for several weeks, and not until after Vivendi and GE reach terms.
GE spokeswoman Anne Eisele said today that the company did not comment on speculation. She said Vivendi had a window between mid-November and mid-December in which to decide what it will do with its 20 percent stake.
Vivendi is studying its options, Eisele said, and, based on its decision, GE could buy out Vivendi, offer NBC Universal in an initial public offering, or find a new partner for NBC Universal.
Currently, General Electric owns the other 80 percent of NBC Universal.
Vivendi was not available for comment. The firm, which has a global video game business and is the No. 1 pay-TV company in France, places a value of $6.3 billion on its stake in NBC Universal.
The Comcast-GE deal values the Vivendi stake between $5.6 billion and $6 billion. Details of the difference in value were reported in the Wall Street Journal and by Bloomberg News.
According to the deal being discussed with Comcast, GE would acquire Vivendi's 20 percent stake in NBC Universal, giving it 100 percent ownership. Then General Electric would finalize a deal with Comcast that would include the Philadelphia company's paying $5 billion to $6 billion cash to GE and putting its programming assets into NBC Universal.
In the deal scenario between GE and Comcast, NBC Universal is worth between $25 billion to $30 billion, according to sources.
Speculation remains that a separate bidder could emerge for NBC Universal. Time Warner Inc. and Liberty Media Holding Corp., controlled by cable pioneer John Malone, have said they are not interested.
In an interview in New York last week, Malone said he would be interested at a cheaper price.
NBC Universal owns profit-rich cable networks USA, Syfy (formerly Sci Fi), and Bravo. But there have been poor prime-time ratings for the NBC-TV network and no seeming hope for improvement in the next year or two.
Laura Martin, a Los Angeles-based senior media analyst with Soleil Securities Corp., estimates that the NBC Network could lose $250 million in 2009.
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