Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Vivendi Holds the Key

French communications firm Vivendi SA holds the balance of power over General Electric and Comcast at this point.The conglomerate has the final say on whether Comcast can acquire NBC Universal from GE.The decision will be handed down within three weeks,according to Vivendi Chief Financial Officer Philippe Capron.Vivendi owns 20% of NBC-U,and must sell its stake to GE,if the deal is to go forward.Mr.Capron said they are not there yet.
Through its various holdings,Vivendi is number one in video games and music worldwide;number two in France telecom;number one in Morocco telecom;and number one in Pay-TV France.It owns 56% of video gamer Activision Blizzard and 100% of Universal Music Group.The Parisian firm is led by CEO Jean-Bernard Levy.
Receiving a journalism award at Arizona State University,NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams said nothing about the deal.He did mention that NBC News viewership is up from where it was last year,however.GE's decision to sell NBC-U has been cited by some observers as a sign of the fading away of broadcast television.
Vivendi shares trade on the over the counter pink sheets.Their ticker symbol is VIVEF.

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