Comcast completely acquires GE's portion of NBCUniversal
updated 05:39 pm EST, Tue February 12, 2013
Deal expected to complete with little interference by end of 1Q
Comcast has announced today that it is acquiring GE's 49 percent common equity share of the NBCUniversal joint venture. The deal, worth $16.7 billion -- plus $1.4 billion for 30 Rockefeller Plaza and the CNBC headquarters -- will be funded with $11.4 billion in cash, $4 billion of unsecured notes, $2 billion in new debt, and $725 million of stock issued to GE as terms of the agreement.
In a statement, the chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation said that "our decision to acquire GE's ownership is driven by our sense of optimism for the future prospects of NBCUniversal, and our desire to capture future value that we hope to create for our shareholders. We believe the terms of the transaction are attractive, and have planned for this event by taking a number of financial steps to prepare our balance sheet."
The deal, brokered by Morgan Stanley, still needs to meet regulatory approval. If approved, the purchase will be complete by the end of the first quarter.
