Comcast agreed on Tuesday to pay $16.7 billion to buy General Electric’s 49 percent stake in NBCUniversal, speeding up a sales process that was expected to take several more years, Amy Chozick and Brian Stelter report in The New York Times.
The acquisition, which should be completed by the end of March, highlights Comcast’s commitment to NBCUniversal’s highly profitable cable channels, theme parks and the NBC broadcast network, according to Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast. In addition, the growing necessity of owning television content as well as the delivery systems accelerated the decision, Mr. Roberts said. “It’s been a very smooth couple of years, and the content continues to get more valuable with new revenue streams,†he said. Comcast also said NBCUniversal would buy the NBC studios and offies at 30 Rockefeller Center and the CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., for a combined price of about $1.4 billion.
“Comcast, with a conservative, low-profile culture, had clashed with the G.E. approach, according to employees and executives in television,†Ms. Chozick and Mr. Stelter write. “Comcast took control of NBCUniversal in early 2011 by acquiring 51 percent of the media company from General Electric. The structure of the deal gave Comcast the option of buying out G.E. in a three-and-a-half to seven-year time frame. In part because of the clash in corporate cultures, television executives said, both sides were eager to accelerate the sale.â€
RESISTANCE GROWS TO DELL DEAL  | Michael S. Dell’s plan to take his company private for $24.4 billion is “quickly becoming one of the biggest deals in years to face a shareholder uprising,†DealBook’s Michael J. de la Merced writes. “The opposition to Mr. Dell’s buyout effort now includes the mutual fund giant T. Rowe Price, which on Tuesday said that it opposed the offer at its current price of $13.65 a share.â€
“And Southeastern Asset Management, an investment firm, stepped up its campaign against the Dell takeover bid. The asset manager disclosed on Tuesday that it had hired D. F. King & Company, a proxy solicitation firm, in what may be the first step toward a fight against Dell’s board. Southeastern has also hired a longtime mergers lawyer, Dennis Block of Greenberg Traurig, as an outside legal adviser, according to a person briefed on the matter. It has suggested that potential tactics could include a lawsuit or an intervention by a Delaware judge.â€
APPLE AND THE WAYS OF WALL STREET  | Money “makes you do things you don’t want to do,†goes the adage from the movie “Wall Street.†In the case of Apple, money is making the company and a large investor, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, engage in an unusual struggle, Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column. Mr. Einhorn has proposed that Apple issue a special security to return some of its $140 billion cash pile to shareholders. On Tuesday, Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said a lawsuit filed by the hedge fund manager in that effort was a “silly sideshow.â€
“Yet Apple is not doing itself any favors by trying to do an end run around Mr. Einhorn,†Mr. Davidoff writes. “Despite Apple’s growing cash pile, the company’s value is shrinking. But instead of focusing on making Apple an even b! etter bus! iness, shareholders are trying to rescue their bubblelike bets with financial gimmickry, and Apple is engaging in its own gimmicks to defeat them. Even Apple can be consumed by the strange world of Wall Street.â€
BANKS REVIEWING THEIR OWN FORECLOSURES  | “Washington is seeking help from an unlikely group in its effort to distribute billions of dollars to struggling homeowners in foreclosure: the same banks accused of abusing homeowners with shoddy foreclosure practices,†Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess report in DealBook.
“In doing so, the regulators are trying to speed the process after a flawed, independent foreclosure review delayed relief for millions of borrowers, according to people briefed on the matter. But housing advocates worry that the banks, eager to end the cotly process, could take shortcuts as they comb through loan files for errors, potentially diverting aid from the neediest homeowners. Regulators say they will check the work. And banks have already agreed to pay a fixed amount to troubled homeowners, creating another backstop.â€
“According to officials involved in the process, who spoke anonymously because the matter is not public, the regulators had few alternatives.â€
ON THE AGENDA  | The Credit Suisse financial services forum continues in Miami, with Jonathan Gray, global head of real estate at the Blackstone Group, presenting at 12:15 p.m. Comcast reports earnings before ! the marke! t opens, and MetLife announces results on Wednesday evening. The House Financial Services Committee conducts a hearing at 10 a.m. on the Federal Housing Administration’s report to Congress. Steve Case, the AOL co-founder, is on CNBC at 9 a.m.
THE BILLIONAIRE TRAVEL DIARIES  | Want to travel like a billionaire A niche travel industry that caters to the world’s ultrawealthy is standing ready, provided money is no object, Condé Nast Traveler writes. For the adventurous, there’s Calivigny Island in the Caribbean, a personal paradise belonging to a French businessman and his wife that rents for $165,000 a night. More modest accommodations can be found at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which recentlyadded two “presidential bungalows†that go for $18,150 a night each. “The word no is not part of my vocabulary because the impossible today may be probable tomorrow,†said the travel agent Jody Bear, of Bear & Bear in New York.
Ryanair Indicates Regulators Will Reject Aer Lingus Deal  | The discount European airline Ryanair said it plans to appeal should regulators block its bid for Aer Lingus. DealBook Â'
Nexen Secures U.S. Approval of Its Sale to Cnooc  | Nexen has receive! d the las! t regulatory approval needed for its $15 billion sale to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, after the Obama administration declared the deal free from national security concerns. DealBook Â'
Deal Speculation Surrounds Vodafone’s German Unit  | A German magazine reported that the German unit of Vodafone was planning to buy Kabel Deutschland, according to Reuters. REUTERS
Rosneft Approves Financing for Purchase of TNK-BP Stake  |Â
REUTERS
Societe Generale to Restructure After 4th-Quarter Loss  | The French bank posted a net loss of $640 million in the last three months of 2012, and announced a restructuring plan to cut costs and simplify its operations. DealBook Â'
ING Plans to Cut 2,400 Jobs  | The Dutch financial services firm ING “reported profit that missed analysts’ estimates on restructuring expenses as it announced 1,400 more job cuts in the Netherlands and 1,000 in Belgium,†Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
A Top UBS Executive Is to Depart  | Carsten Kengeter, former head of the investment bank of UBS, is resigning from the Swiss banking giant. DealBook Â'
Goldman’s C.E.O. Dismisses Talk of Retirement  | “The combination of this being who I am and what I do and having absolutely no other interests makes me think this is what I’ll be doing for a while,†Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs told Bloomberg TV. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Searching for Deeper Meaning in a Prominent Beard  | “Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein has been sporting a beard lately, which has some people asking: is he on his way out†writes Lauren Tara LaCapra in a blog post for Reuters. But a Goldman spokesman, Jake Siewert, said, “Sometimes a beard is just a beard.†REUTERS
Goldman Executive Predicts Higher Returns for the Industry  | Harvey M. Schwartz, Goldman Sachs’s chief financial officer, said he expected the average return on equity in the banking industry would rise above 12 percent as firms scale back certain businesses, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
For Lehmanites at Barclays, Unpleasant Memories  | With Barclays planning to cut 3,700 more jobs, “some of the former Lehman employees at Barclays say they feel like they are back on a roller-coaster ride of uncertainty,†Quartz writes. QUARTZ
Billionaire Turns to Investing in Distressed Homes  | The billionaire B. Wayne Hughes “is buying thousands of houses to rent,†making his firm “the second-biggest owner of single-family rentals after Stephen Schwarzma’s Blackstone Group,†Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
When the Landlord Is From Wall Street  | The New Republic looks at the trend of investment firms buying foreclosed homes to rent them out, writing, “It’s the next Wall Street gold rush.†NEW REPUBLIC
Carlyle Names Head of Government Affairs  | Carlyle has hired Barrett Karr, majority staff director of a House committee, to lead its United States government affairs. DealBook Â'
Few Winners in the Herbalife Fight  | With William A. Ackman and Daniel S. Loeb taking opposite bets regarding Herbalife, “investors in the funds, as a group, became the losers because of the way hedge fund compensation works,†Steven N. Kaplan writes in Bloomberg View. BLOOMBERG VIEW
SeaWorld Picks N.Y.S.E. for Its Listing  | SeaWorld Entertainment, which is backed by the Blackston Group, plans to hold its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, it said on Tuesday. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Silicon Valley Executives Push for Overhaul of Immigration Laws  | The New York Times reports: “Silicon Valley executives, who have long pressed the government to provide more visas for foreign-born math and science brains, are joining forces with an array of immigration groups seeking comprehensive changes in the law. And as momentum builds in Washington for a broad revamping, the tech industry has more hope than ever that it will finally achieve its goal: the expanded access to visas t! hat it sa! ys is critical to its own continued growth and that of the economy as a whole.†NEW YORK TIMES
Music Service Takes Aim at Bigger Rival, Pandora  | A small player in the digital music business, Slacker, is releasing an advertisement that is critical of Pandora. NEW YORK TIMES
Prospect of British Exit From European Union Is Met With Skepticism  | The idea that Britain might be btter off outside the European Union has been embraced by Prime Minister David Cameron and some in his party, but according to opinion polls, it is “by no means widely accepted by the majority of voters,†The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
Automatically Deleted E-Mails in the SAC Case  | Bloomberg News reports: “The federal investigation of insider trading by SAC Capital Advisors LP and its founder, Steven A. Cohen, has been hampered by a lack of extensive e-mail evidence. One reason: During the period of time at the heart of the probe, July 2008, SAC automatically deleted its e-mails.†BLOOMBERG NEWS
Swiss Banks Must Hold Additional Capital Against Real Estate  | Bloomberg News reports: “The Swiss government ordered banks to hold additional capital as a buffer against risks posed by the country’s biggest property boom in two decades.†BLOOMBERG NEWS
