General Electric Co. and Comcast Corp. finalized a spinout of GE”™s NBC Universal subsidiary, with GE retaining a 49 percent stake and Comcast securing a majority interest.
The deal is subject to review by federal antitrust regulators.
Philadelphia-based Comcast will pay GE $6.5 billion in cash, subject to adjustments, and will contribute its cable networks valued at $7.5 billion to the new Comcast Entertainment Group, including Versus, which has a television studio in Stamford.
GE estimated at $30 billion the value of the NBC Universal (NBCU) properties it is contributing, including NBC, cable networks and Universal theme parks. The deal had been awaiting successful resolution of GE buying out Vivendi”™s 20 percent stake in NBC Universal, with GE ultimately paying $5.8 billion for those shares.
“NBCU has been a great business for GE over the past two decades,” said Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, in a statement. “We have generated an average annual return of 11 percent, while expanding into cable, movies, parks and international media ”¦ We have many opportunities to invest in our high-technology infrastructure businesses at attractive returns.”
NBC Universal”™s current CEO Jeff Zucker will lead the new joint venture, which will remain based in New York City.
Upon the deal”™s completion, the combined properties of the new Comcast Entertainment Group will include:
- NBC, Telemundo, local affiliates and news and production operations;
- the USA, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, Syfy, E!, Style, Versus and Golf Channel cable networks;
- Universal Pictures;
- digital media properties including iVillage, Fandango, and Daily Candy; which together generate more than 40 million unique users each month;
- full or partial stakes of theme parks in Florida, California and Japan;
- minority stakes in A&E, Biography, The History Channel, The Weather Channel, Lifetime and Hulu.com.
Â
