NBC - VIVENDI MUM ON NBC UNIVERSAL SALE

VIVENDI MUM ON NBC UNIVERSAL SALE

In announcing its quarterly results late today (Thursday), Vivendi, the French media conglomerate, made no mention of whether it will agree to sell its 20-percent stake in NBC Universal to General Electric, which owns the remaining 80 percent. Such an agreement is required if GE's deal to form a joint venture with Comcast Corp. is to go forward, and several business writers had forecast that Vivendi would make its intentions known today. But at the beginning of a conference call with analysts, Vivendi CFO Philippe Capron said that the company would not comment on its plans regarding NBC Universal. Analysts are expressing increasing skepticism that Vivendi's board will go ahead with the sale. It has a window between November 15 and December 10 to do so. Earlier reports had indicated that Vivendi would use proceeds of the sale to purchase the Brazilian phone company GVT, but it now appears that a Spanish phone company is prepared to outbid Vivendi for the Brazilian company. "Without GVT, there is no pressure on Vivendi" to sell, said Standard & Poor's London-based equity analyst Alexander Wisch in an interview with Bloomberg News Wednesday. "Without GVT, I don't see why they should hold cash." Meanwhile, Vivendi is showing no reluctance to compete against NBC Universal. It announced Wednesday that it plans to release Jack London's Call of the Wild as a 3D DVD on Dec. 22 -- complete with two pairs of 3D glasses included with every disc.

12/11/2009