Comcast and GE are advancing toward a deal for NBC Universal, with both companies agreeing to a timetable for GE’s eventual exit from the business, The Post has learned.
Several sources close to the situation said that Comcast, run by Brian Roberts, has agreed to give GE the right to redeem portions of its interest in NBCU at the three-and-a-half year and seven-year mark.
That would get both companies to where they eventually want to be — with GE out of the operation, and Comcast fully owning NBCU.
Terms of the deal being discussed call for GE to spin off NBCU into a separate entity that would be merged with Comcast’s cable networks. Comcast would contribute about $6 billion in cash to the new venture and own a 51 percent stake, while GE would own 49 percent.
GE plans to buy Vivendi’s 20 percent interest in NBCU as part of the deal and put the debt on the books of the new company, which would have about $9 billion in debt and be valued at around $30 billion to start.
Sources said the two sides are working through the new entity’s structure and cautioned that a deal could still fall apart, but added that one is more likely to happen than not.
They also dismissed the rumored interest of Liberty Media and News Corp., which owns The Post, as little more than opportunistic tire kicking rather than serious deal competitors.
The money that would be paid down the road to redeem GE’s share of NBCU would be funded from cash flow from the new entity, in part because Comcast doesn’t want to put its own balance sheet at risk.
If the new company can’t fund the purchase of GE’s redemption rights, however, then Comcast has agreed to spend a total of up to a separate $6 billion to finance the purchase of GE’s stake according to a source.