General Electric buys Vivendi media empire

[Knight]

General Electric buys Vivendi media empire

Rob Fahey 16:18 08/10/2003
New home for Vivendi Universal Games at long last

French conglomerate Vivendi has finally agreed a sale for its entertainment business, with the media empire - including Universal Studios and Vivendi Universal Games - being sold to General Electric in a multi-billion dollar deal.

The deal will see the media assets of the company being merged with General Electric's own media division, NBC, in a move which will create one of the largest media companies in the world.

Specifics of what will happen to the various divisions of the company following the sale are as yet unclear; it's thought that General Electric may seek to sell off some assets, such as the Universal theme parks business. No comment has been made as yet on the future of the games division.

The deal values Vivendi's entertainment and media companies at around $14 billion, and will see GE taking an 80 per cent stake in the newly merged media empire, while Vivendi continues to hold 20 per cent. The new NBC Universal conglomerate will be worth some $43 billion.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content...e=pub&aid=2373

This is bad news for sony & nintendo.

[BigJosh359]

Old news, but good i think.

[RudedogX]

Why bad news for Sony and Nintendo?

[Knight]

Originally posted by rudedogX
Why bad news for Sony and Nintendo?

MsNbc

[RudedogX]

Originally posted by Knight


MsNbc

Good point!

[Ford Mustang]

Yeah. Microsoft and NBC have a very strong relationship. I think this will make for some good exclusive games on the green monster.

I still think Microsoft should have scooped this up, though. They'd be way better off. Oh well.