The New York Times
General Electric and its NBC Universal unit are in talks with Comcast to spin off a new company, which would consist of the creative assets of NBC Universal and Comast.
One person familiar with the negotiations confirmed the potential arrangement, which was first reported by CNBC and Reuters on Thursday afternoon. Under the proposed terms of the arrangement, Comcast would hold a 51 percent stake in the new company.
Multiple people close to the negotiations cautioned that a deal was not imminent, and said that it hingesd on Vivendi, which owns a 20 percent stake in NBC Universal. GE executives expect Vivendi to exercise its right to sell the stake this year.
CNBC said that under the potential terms of the arrangement, Comcast would take control “through its contributions of content assets such as the ‘E!’ channel, the Golf Channel and a group of regional sports networks, and the contribution of as much as $7 billion in cash to the new company.” More…