Vivendi mum on NBC Universal

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Vivendi on Thursday reported financial results through the first three quarters of 2009 and affirmed its guidance for the full year. Anyone who thought that the company would also announce its intentions for its 20% stake in NBC Universal was disappointed.


The only mention of NBCU in Vivendi’s quarterly financial release was to note that its share of income earned by NBC Universal was 127 million euros, compared to 173 million euros for the first nine months of 2008.

Of course, CFO Philippe Capron was asked by analysts whether the company would sell its stake in NBCU, as has been rumored as part of a deal to have Comcast acquire a majority stake.  Capron declined to comment.

From this Sunday, November 15th, through December 10th, Vivendi will be in the annual window whereby it has a contractual right to order General Electric to either buy its stake or sell it in an IPO.

By the way, through the first nine months of this year, revenues for all of Vivendi rose 9.8% to 19.53 billion euros. EBITDA grew 10.3% to 4.25 billion euros.