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Comcast scoops up rest of NBC Universal from GE

The cable giant has completed its $16.7 billion deal to acquire the remaining 49 percent of NBCU from former owner General Electric.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney

Comcast now owns all of NBC Universal.

The cable company shared the news in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, revealing that it completed its acquisition of the 49 percent of NBCU held by GE.

To finance the purchase, Comcast said it spent $10 billion in cash (of which $3.2 billion came from NBCU), $725 million in preferred stock, $4 billion in securities, $750 million in cash funded through a commercial paper program, and $1.25 billion in cash from NBCU's credit facility.

Comcast also announced that it now owns certain properties at NBCU's headquarters at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Through NBCU, it had previously bought CNBC's headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Together, those two purchases cost Comcast around $1.4 billion.

Comcast's quest to acquire NBCU hit some bumps in the road when plans were first announced in 2009.

Regulators concerned about Comcast becoming too powerful a media conglomerate scrutinized the deal before giving it the stamp of approval. GE also had to reach a separate agreement with Vivendi, which at the time held a 20 percent stake in NBCU.

Comcast finally closed the deal in January 2011, winning 51 percent of NBCU. With yesterday's 49 percent purchase, GE is out of the entertainment business, and Comcast is NBCU's sole parent.