Home >> Variety / TV News
Comcast to sell A&E stake for $3 billion
A&E to redeem the 15.8% stake
By: Jill Goldsmith
Posted On: Jul. 10, 2012
Comcast will sell its 15.8% stake in A&E Television Networks back to A&E for just over $3 billion, the company said Tuesday.
The move leaves A&E in the hands of co-owners Walt Disney and Hearst, and gives Comcast a good pile of cash to put towards buying out the stake in NBCUniversal it doesn't already own.
The $3.03 billion transaction will be in cash and notes issued by A&E, Comcast said in an SEC filing.
Comcast acquired a 51% stake in NBCU from General Electric in 2009. GE will sell Comcast half of the remaining stake in June 2014.
A&E's network group includes Lifetime, Military Channel, History Channel and Crime & Investigation Network.
History's "Hatfields & McCoys" miniseries was a hit with viewers this spring.
Disney and Hearst will now become 50-50 partners in A&E.
The original thee-way ownership pact included a clause allowing NBC to exit the partnership, and it exercised the option to do so in March.
| 
