Vivendi, GE form $43b entertainment empire

Vivendi Universal and General Electric said on Wednesday they had signed a final deal to merge their show business assets, creating a $43 billion entertainment powerhouse.
Under a deal originally outlined last month, General Electric’s television network NBC will take control of Vivendi’s Hollywood studio, cable channels and theme parks, to rank among global titans such as Walt Disney Co and Viacom. After a month of exclusive talks, the terms of the definitive agreement were broadly as unveiled in a preliminary deal in September, with shareholders in Vivendi Universal Entertainment receiving $3.8 billion in cash. US conglomerate GE will own 80 per cent of NBC Universal and will issue common stock at or before the closing to fund the cash portion of the deal, the companies said. NBC Universal will assume 1.7 billion euros of debt.
Vivendi, which will retain 20 per cent of the combination, said the two companies had earmarked between $400 million and $500 million in potential cost savings from combining assets including Hollywood’s Universal Pictures, cable television network USA and NBC’s broadcast and cable channels.(Reuters)