GE chief tries to move along negotiations on sale of NBC Universal

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Let’s hope he didn’t bring a turkey.

Jeffrey Immelt, the chairman and chief executive of General Electric Co., paid a Thanksgiving Eve visit to the Paris headquarters of telecommunications company Vivendi -- in an effort to jump-start the stalled negotiations between the two companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

Vivendi has two weeks to decide whether it will exercise its option to sell its 20% stake in NBC Universal. GE, which owns the majority 80% stake of the media empire, would like Vivendi to hurry up and decide to exit so that GE would be free to sell control of NBC Universal to cable television giant Comcast Corp. GE cannot move forward with its deal to partner with Comcast (Comcast would own 51% of the joint venture and GE would own 49%) until Vivendi agrees to bow out.

The negotiations between GE and Vivendi hit a snag in the last few days because Vivendi has been unhappy with the amount offered by GE for Vivendi’s 20% interest.

The French company believes its stake is worth more than $6 billion. But valuations placed on NBC Universal, as part of GE’s proposed deal with Comcast, would generate significantly less money for Vivendi, according to people familiar with the talks. The two sides have been about $500 million apart.

If Vivendi and GE cannot agree on a price, then Vivendi could push for a public offering of its shares in NBC Universal. That has long been an option, of course. But an IPO would be a long, drawn-out affair with an uncertain outcome -- not a prospect that GE relishes.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Immelt’s visit to Vivendi. A person familiar with the matter said it was just one stop during Immelt’s trip to Europe. Still, the visit to Vivendi’s Paris headquarters demonstrated Immelt’s motivation to work out a deal with Vivendi so that he can finalize GE’s deal with Comcast during the first two weeks of December.

-- Meg James