Vivendi yesterday said they were entering exclusive negotiations with GE's NBC with regards the sale of their non-music entertainment assets.
The decision follows some last minute unsuccessful lobbying by Edgar J Bronfman Jr, who headed up the main rival bid. As previously reported, last week he became critical of Vivendi as they procrastinated over making a decision and hinted he may pull out of the race. But when Vivendi insiders hit back at those criticisms Bronfman stepped up the PR effort to win back face.
Whether it was Bronfman's critical remarks that swung it, or the fact that according to the GE deal VU maintain a 20% stake in the merged company, we're not sure. Either way it's not the greatest news for VU's creditors because in the GE deal the French conglom gets a lot of stock and less cash - GE is expected to initially hand over $1.6 billion in cash, making only a dent in the French congloms overall debts.
Although the NBC deal looks somewhat more likely today there is still much negotiating to be done so the future is not completely finalised for Universal - some inside Vivendi are still talking about a flotation for the studio and theme park businesses.