The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not oppose the proposed merger of General Electric’s NBC television network and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, GE said on Tuesday. (MSNBC is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, which is a GE company.)
GE said it expects the merger to close “within the next few weeks.”
“With this important step behind us, we will move quickly toward a close of the acquisition,” said Bob Wright, vice chairman of GE and Chairman and CEO of NBC in a statement.
GE moved to merge its television network with Vivendi’s Universal Studios, theme parks and cable networks last October, in a deal worth about $43 billion that catapults it to the media big leagues, analysts have said.
The combined company is expected to yield about $12 billion in revenue and $2.4 billion in operating profits in 2004.
Revenue and operating profits are expected to grow to about $15 billion, and $3.1 billion, respectively, according to GE executives on its last earnings conference call.
Ahead of the announcement, GE shares fell 60 cents, or 1.93 percent to $30.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.
