Vivendi, GE $500M Apart on NBCU Value

PARIS (TheStreet) - About $500 million is what separates Vivendi and General Electric(GE Quote) in deciding what Vivendi should be paid for its minority stake in NBC Universal, a report says.

That 20% stake is an important part of to a potential deal for cable giant Comcast(CMCSA Quote) to take over NBC Universal, 80% of which is owned by GE, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Comcast and GE are in the middle of due diligence, say people familiar with the matter, the Journal reports. If Vivendi and GE can agree on a price, a deal for Comcast to take over NBC Universal could come next month.

Vivendi has indicated to GE that it would like to sell its NBC Universal stake this year, but doesn't want to be paid less than book value, according to the Journal. Book value was 4.259 billion euros as of June 30, according to securities filings, or about $6.3 billion at current exchange rates.

Vivendi's board met last week but didn't disclose if it had decided to sell its NBC Universal stake.

The Comcast deal would value NBC Universal in the range of $28 billion to $30 billion, reports have said, putting Vivendi's stake in the media company at $5.6 billion to $6 billion.

A Vivendi spokesman declined to comment for the newspaper, while a GE spokeswoman reiterated the company's stance that it's evaluating various options if Vivendi decides to sell.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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