13 May 2004
Vivendi Buys Diller’s Stake In Unit For $275 Million
Posted by Zane under: News .
Wow, that is a lot of money for a 1.5% stake in a company!
Vivendi Universal SA, which completed the sale of its U.S. media assets to General Electric Co.’s NBC yesterday, said it bought Barry Diller’s (InterActiveCorp - Expedia, Hotels.com, HSN, TicketMaster, Match.com, CitySearch, Lending Tree, and Hotwire.com to name a few) personal stake in the media unit for $275 million.
Paris-based Vivendi acquired Diller’s 1.5 percent stake in Vivendi Universal Entertainment, Vivendi Chief Operating Officer Jean-Bernard Levy said on a conference call with investors. InterActiveCorp, Diller’s Internet commerce company, will keep its 5.4 percent in Vivendi Universal Entertainment, which is being folded into NBC Universal, he said.
I especially liked this line,
The creation of NBC Universal, combining Vivendi’s U.S. entertainment assets and General Electric Co.’s NBC, was completed yesterday. Vivendi’s assets were combined with NBC’s USA Network and the Sci Fi Channel, bought by Vivendi from Diller in 2002, to create the world’s seventh-largest media company.
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