Report: Vivendi Writing Off Half Of Its NBCU Stake

Planning Writedown

NBC UNIVERSAL is the latest media company to get hit with a writedown on the value of its assets, reports THE NEW YORK POST. VIVENDI, the FRENCH conglomerate that owns 20% of NBCU, and is the parent of UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, said yesterday that it is still assessing the value of its stake, but anticipates a decline in worth of less than $3 billion. The company didn't specify precisely how much less, however.

VIVENDI's stake in NBCU was estimated to be worth between $6 billion and $8 billion in NOVEMBER, when the company had the option of exercising a right to either sell or force an initial public offering of its position.

The high end of that range would value all of NBCU at $40 billion, or the same amount it was valued at when the merger of NBC and VIVENDI UNIVERSAL ENTERTAINMENT was announced in 2004.

VIVENDI's anticipated writedown of NBCU follows last week's news that TIME WARNER planned to take a $25 billion writedown on the value of its cable, publishing and AOL assets in the fourth quarter stemming from a drop in advertising revenue and a host of one-time impairment charges.

CBS in OCTOBER said it would take a $14 billion charge to reflect the declining value of its television and radio station assets.

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