Comcast To Finish Buying NBCUniversal For $16.7 Billion

By Avie Schneider

Published February 12, 2013 at 5:28 PM EST

An NBC store is seen through a window reflecting Rockefeller Center in New York City. Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, has owned 51 percent of NBCUniversal since 2011.

Comcast Corp. said Tuesday it will complete its buyout of NBCUniversal from GE for about $16.7 billion, ahead of schedule. Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, has owned 51 percent of NBCUniversal since their $28 billion merger in 2011.

NBCUniversal owns several familiar news and entertainment brands, including NBC, CNBC, Universal Pictures, Telemundo, USA Network and Universal Parks and Resorts.

"Our decision to acquire GE's ownership is driven by our sense of optimism for the future prospects of NBCUniversal and our desire to capture future value that we hope to create for our shareholders," Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts in a statement Tuesday.

Comcast also announced that NBCUniversal will buy from GE the properties used by NBCUniversal at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and CNBC's headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., for about $1.4 billion.

The completion of the buyout "comes several years early, as Comcast takes advantage of low borrowing costs and what CEO Brian Roberts calls a 'very attractive price,' " the Associated Press reported.

"Comcast had planned to take a larger stake in [NBCUniversal] over seven years, paying for it from operating cash," AP said.

"But Roberts told The Associated Press that the sale of its stake in pay TV network A&E and some wireless spectrum gave it plenty of cash on hand. He also says Comcast got a good deal given that the stock price of media conglomerates has been rising."