WHILE Vivendi CEO Jean- Bernard Levy for years has said he will eventually sell his stake in NBC Universal back to General Electric, the chatter around Sun Valley, Idaho, this week suggests otherwise.
According to sources, the lunchtime talk around the duck pond is that Levy actually wants to buy full control of NBC Universal and plans to leverage the “put” Vivendi holds to do just that.
Each November, Vivendi has the right to sell its 20 percent stake to GE, meaning that GE either has to come up with a few billion dollars to buy back the stake or risk having a third party, perhaps one more hostile than Vivendi, acquire a large chunk of NBC Universal.
Assuming NBC Universal has lost half of the $44 billion it was valued at when the media giant was created in 2004, Vivendi’s 20 percent stake would be worth roughly $5 billion today.
Though GE does have a large cash balance with which to make a purchase, it also has a large debt load.
And given the problems at its finance unit, the company is in no position to fork over the kind of money it would have to should Vivendi exercise its put four months from now.
In other words, Vivendi has GE over a barrel.
Until now, Vivendi has been a patient and understanding partner for GE, but sources said Levy is frustrated at NBC Universal’s loss of value and believes the company can be run more efficiently.
What’s more, Levy thinks GE’s financial position is going to get worse, not better, and is plotting to gain control of NBC Universal, sources said.
The plan currently being contemplated is to defer exercising the put this November in exchange for a payout in the form of cash or GE stock.
Then, as NBC Universal’s performance worsens and GE gets to a financial breaking point, which Levy hopes will coincide with a rebound in the credit markets, Vivendi swoops in with an offer for the company.
According to sources, Vivendi’s newfound interest in NBC Universal is being influenced by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.
Vivendi owns 50 percent of the videogame company, as well as Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record label.
Sources said Kotick is keen to run a major entertainment conglomerate and has been talking up the synergies between Vivendi and NBC Universal.
Kotick declined comment.
Levy would say only that owning a 20 percent stake in NBC Universal is “non-core” to Vivendi.
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While on the topic of GE, the other buzz coming out of Sun Valley is that the situation at NBC’s film unit Universal Studios is “deteriorating fast.”
Though studio boss Ron Meyer has been all smiles while walking the grounds at Sun Valley, sources said he is chafing at the oversight NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker has imposed on him at the request of GE.
The Post exclusively reported that Zucker recently dispatched Chief Financial Officer Lynn Calpeter out to Universal Studios in Los Angeles to observe Meyer’s process for greenlighting films and developing marketing-and-production budgets given the studio’s poor performance this year.
The move marks the first time in Meyer’s 14-year tenure that his stewardship of the studio is being questioned.
“Ron is very angry because he can’t run the studio the way he wants to,” said one source close to the situation.
According to this source and others, Meyer is upset that his studio’s performance is being questioned when he doesn’t get nearly the same amount of resources from GE as other studios do from their corporate parents.
Meyer also feels that Zucker and GE boss Jeffrey Immelt, both of whom are said to despise Hollywood, don’t appreciate the intangible value of the relationships he’s built in Tinseltown for both the studio and the television company.
But sources said Zucker doesn’t want to hear it and is turning a deaf ear toward Meyer.
“Jeff’s got so many problems on the television side, that he can’t afford any problems on the film side,” said a second source. “He just wants Meyer to fall in line.”
Sources said Zucker is contemplating buying out Meyer’s contract — he has three more years left on it — and ending his reign atop Universal if his griping continues.
“They have a really unhealthy relationship,” a third source said of the Meyer-Zucker-Immelt triumvirate.
Meyer denied any friction in an interview with The Post yesterday.
“GE-NBC since the day they acquired us have only been supportive of the motion-picture divi sion,” Meyer said. “Their involvement has not been intrusive, and I welcome them into the process.”
When corralled by The Post on the way to his room yesterday, Immelt said, “I love Ron.”
Zucker, meanwhile, said that his relationship with Meyer “is stronger than ever.”