GE's Comstock: Really, NBCU Is Not For Sale
This story was written by Staci D. Kramer.
The compulsion to get GE execs on the record about NBC Universal's (NYSE: GE) futuremaybe we can make it a drinking game during the Olympicscontinues despite the recent reorganization keeping the media and entertainment company as a core division and repeated assertions that it will remain part of GE. Caveat: no matter how many times someone says no, any company can wind up bid for or being sold. (We certainly know that here at ContentNext Media.) But it looks like GE plans to stick with its 80 percent of NBCU, at least as long as it sticks with Jeff Immelt as CEO. (Vivendi (EPA: VIV) holds the other 20 percent.) The latest comes from Beth Comstock, former digital head at NBCU and now back at the mother ship as chief marketing officer, to Reuters: "I think Jeff Immelt has been very clear ... saying to the media, to internal audiences and to investors that he sees NBC as a part of GE's future."
As for NBCU's investment in the Olympics: "We didn't look at it just as advertising revenue. We thought it could also be a way to build a relationship with the city of Beijing." She told Reuters that GE has generated $1.7 billion of total revenues from Olympics-related business$1 billion is from advertisements for NBC and $700 million from other GE divisions. That $700 million is higher than projected last year; some of the additional revenue comes from Olympics-based sales incentives. GE is a top IOC sponsor in its own right.
By Staci D. Kramer