NBC - VIVENDI COULD UPEND GE-COMCAST DEAL

VIVENDI COULD UPEND GE-COMCAST DEAL

Vivendi is playing hardball in its dealings with General Electric and is balking at the valuation that GE and Comcast have placed on NBC Universal. Vivendi must sell its 20-percent stake in the media company in order for GE and Comcast to form a joint venture that would run it. The Wall Street Journal said today (Monday) that GE and Vivendi are several hundred million dollars apart on a deal and that Vivendi is also asking GE to pay at least part of the price before any deal with Comcast closes. The newspaper cited a person familiar with the matter as saying that Vivendi doesn't want to assume the risk that the GE-Comcast venture could be blocked later on by federal regulators.

23/11/2009