NBC Universal

NBC Universal was formed in May 2004 through the merger of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment. At that time, French conglomerate Vivendi Universal owned 20% of NBC Universal, with the 80% majority held by General Electric. In December 2009, General Electric agreed to sell a 51% stake in NBC Universal to Comcast Corporation. The merger was completed in January 2011. As part of the deal, Vivendi sold its entire interest in NBC Universal to General Electric.

In 2013, Comcast became the sole owner of NBC Universal when it bought GE's 49% interest for $16.7 billion.

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was orginally formed in 1926 as a radio broadcasting network, by GE, RCA and Westinghouse Electric.

NBC Universal owns the NBC Television Network and the NBC Universal Television Stations group, which includes 14 broadcast television stations affiliated with NBC or Telemundo. In total the NBC television network has over 230 affiliates.

The company also owns a group of cable news and entertainment networks, television production operations, the Universal Pictures motion picture company and the Universal theme parks.

In 1996, NBC and the Microsoft Corporation created MSNBC, an all-news cable television channel. The joint venture included the development of a companion online news service, MSNBC.com.

NBC Universal acquired the Telemundo Spanish-language television network in 2001, including a number of broadcast television stations. Telemundo was founded by Angel Ramos in the early 1950's in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Telemundo is an international television company with operations in Argentina, Mexico and Spain as well as the United States.

In June 2008, NBC Universal and two private equity firms -- Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group -- bought the cable television service The Weather Channel and related data and digital assets from Landmark Communications. The buyers were reported to have paid $3.5 billion. At the time, The Weather Channel was the leading brand of weather information on television, reaching 96 million households on basic cable, according to Landmark.

In January 2016, NBC Universal sold the digital and data services of the business, including the Weather.com website, Intellicast and Weather Underground, to IBM Corporation. These assets are collectively known as The Weather Company, an IBM Business. On March 22, 2018, NBC Universal announced that it would sell the Weather Channel television channel to Entertainment Studios Inc., a company owned by comedian and producer Byron Allen. The price was thought to be about $300 million.