Vivendi's main union urges sale of NBCU stake - quickly

Vivendi’s largest union is pushing the French media company to sell it’s 20% share in NBC Universal back to General Electric so a deal between GE and Comcast can be consummated. Vivendi’s share of the digital network is valued at some $6 billion by Concast ands GE; their over all valuation of the unit was $30 billion.

For its part, noting that they need to sell in order for the deal to complete, Vivendi is holding out for more cash -- as well as some protection should regulators block the deal. The company has even floated a potential IPO  of its share as one means of breaking the deadlock. But analysts -- who point to NBCU’s declining numbers -- say investors might be too wary to make the IPO successful.

The ongoing inertia is putting a crimp in GE’s deal with Concast, which is looking to acquire NBCU in part to lower its content costs.

For more:

- see this Bloomberg story

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