GE to sell 51% stake of NBC to Comcast

GE to sell 51% stake of NBC to Comcast

After the long discussion the largest cable company of US, finally reached an agreement on Thursday—General Electric Co to sell 51% stake of NBC Universal to Comcast Corp. In a deal valuing the network at $30 billion. Under the agreement, NBC Universal would be 51% owned by Comcast and 49% by GE. GE will buy out Vivendi's 20% minority stake in NBC Universal. To create a joint venture with the General Electric Co, Comcast Corp. takeover Stake in the NBC Universal Company. The decision of that issue brings the parties closer to an agreement, but Vivendi, which owns 20 percent of NBC Universal, yet not agreed to a deal. GE is going to receive $6.5 billion in cash by Comcast and $7.5 billion in programming including regional sports networks and cable channels.

The headquarters for the business will remain in New York. A chairman of NBC universal, Bob Wright said 'New blood; new energy will be a good thing'. Bod Wright also added they (comcast) are value buyers and they are good asset managers. Comcast and GE are valuing the current NBC Universal assets at about $30 billion. Comcast wants the company mainly for its cable channels — which are expected to provide about 80 percent of the new venture's profit. The deal was approved by both companies' boards of directors. The deal could take more than a year to go through the entire regulatory race. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has been eager to expand his company's TV and movie content holdings for years. NBC has been held up in fourth place among the major broadcast networks and the finance of the broadcast television business has gone down in recent years.

The Chief executive of Comcast Corp. Mr. Robert failed to takeover proposal for the Walt Disney Company in the year 2004. After that, the company has a less determined approach to content, buying a stake in MGM. Mr. Robert also said, “I believe our company is strategically complete.” That is good for the thousands of employees of the both companies. Comcast has approximately 100,000 employees, while NBC Universal has about 30000. Mr. Burke, the executive of Comcast Corp. is going to manage the joint venture. Mr. Burke said,” 99.9 percent of those employees are in businesses that don’t overlap.” NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker will stay on to lead the entertainment venture and will report to Comcast's chief operating officer, Steve Burke.