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French media group Vivendi has accepted 5.8 billion dollars for its stake in NBC Universal, overcoming a key hurdle in General Electric's plan to sell a controlling stake in the company to Comcast, a source said Monday.
GE, which owns 80 percent of media and entertainment company NBC Universal, has been negotiating with Vivendi for weeks over how much the French company will pocket for its 20 percent stake.
GE and Vivendi have now agreed on valuing the stake in NBC Universal at 5.8 billion dollars, said the source close to the negotiations, who asked not to be named.
The amount is apparently slightly less than the French media and telecommunications group was seeking.
Vivendi, which has only one window per year to sell its stake in NBC Universal, has to make a final decision by December 10.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Comcast and GE have agreed on the terms of a deal that would give Comcast a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal with GE retaining 49 percent.
It values NBC Universal at 30 billion dollars, but the deal was contingent on GE reaching agreement with Vivendi to sell its stake.
Spokesmen for Vivendi, General Electric, Comcast and NBC Universal declined to comment.
NBC Universal's holdings include NBC, one of the four major US broadcast television networks along with ABC, CBS and Fox, financial channel CNBC, news channel MSNBC, other local and cable TV channels and Universal Pictures.
