How Comcast Scared Up All That GE Cash

Deal to buy remaining 49 percent stake of NBCU will close by end of Q1

Comcast on Tuesday announced it will pay $16.7 billion to acquire the 49 percent stake in NBCUniversal owned by General Electric, a move that accelerates the buyout well ahead of analysts’ expectations.

The Philadelphia-based cable giant will pay $11.4 billion in cash, funding the remainder with $4 billion in senior notes to be issued to GE, plus debt and subsidiary preferred stock. The deal is expected to close before the end of the first quarter.

Along with the media portfolio—a suite of television properties that includes the NBC broadcast network and cable outlets such as USA Network, Syfy, MSNBC and Bravo—the deal involves the purchase of NBCU’s 30 Rockefeller Center footprint as well as CNBC’s headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,

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