PHILADELPHIA — A deal for Comcast Corp. to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal and create one of the most powerful media companies in the world is taking longer than expected as the current owners tussle over price.
Comcast, the largest cable- TV operator in the United States, wants NBC Universal largely for its lucrative cable channels, but it isn’t likely to raise its offer to General Electric Co., which first needs Vivendi SA to sell its minority stake.
If GE had to pay Vivendi more for that stake, it would have to absorb the additional cost because Comcast’s agreement with GE is “set” and separate from the Vivendi talks, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Plans call for GE, which owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, to buy Vivendi’s 20 percent stake and sell 51 percent ownership in the entire unit to Comcast for about $5 billion to $7 billion in cash. Comcast would contribute cable networks such as E! and Style to a new NBC Universal joint venture with GE, raising Comcast’s bid to about $15 billion.
The new NBC Universal would carry $8 billion to $10 billion of debt and operate under Comcast as its majority owner.
But to make it work, Vivendi first has to sell its stake, and a top Vivendi executive told investors at a conference in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday that it doesn’t have to sell NBC Universal this year.
