NEW YORK (AP) — NBCUniversal is planning to sell part of
its 15.8-percent ownership in A&E Television Networks to the other
partners in the joint venture, Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Co. The deal
could be worth about $2 billion.
Comcast Corp., which has a
controlling stake in NBCUniversal, said earlier this week, in a filing
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it had exercised an
option on March 26 requiring Disney and Hearst to buy back "a
substantial portion" of its ownership in A&E. Each company owns
about another 42 percent of the network. Philadelphia-based Comcast said
it expects the transaction to close in the second half of this year.
Comcast
spokesman Charlie Douglas and Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer declined
to comment Saturday. A Disney representative wasn’t immediately
available for comment.
Citi analyst Jason Bazinet estimated in a
research note that NBCUniversal’s stake is worth about $2 billion and
could be used to reduce the company’s debt. That could make it easier,
he said, for Comcast to eventually acquire the remaining 49-percent
stake in NBCUniversal held by General Electric Co.
A&E includes the History Channel, Lifetime, Biography as well as its namesake network.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
NEW YORK (AP) — NBCUniversal is planning to sell part of
its 15.8-percent ownership in A&E Television Networks to the other
partners in the joint venture, Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Co. The deal
could be worth about $2 billion.
Comcast Corp., which has a
controlling stake in NBCUniversal, said earlier this week, in a filing
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it had exercised an
option on March 26 requiring Disney and Hearst to buy back "a
substantial portion" of its ownership in A&E. Each company owns
about another 42 percent of the network. Philadelphia-based Comcast said
it expects the transaction to close in the second half of this year.
Comcast
spokesman Charlie Douglas and Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer declined
to comment Saturday. A Disney representative wasn’t immediately
available for comment.
Citi analyst Jason Bazinet estimated in a
research note that NBCUniversal’s stake is worth about $2 billion and
could be used to reduce the company’s debt. That could make it easier,
he said, for Comcast to eventually acquire the remaining 49-percent
stake in NBCUniversal held by General Electric Co.
A&E includes the History Channel, Lifetime, Biography as well as its namesake network.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.