Comcast to acquire full ownership of NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion

US cable provider Comcast is to acquire the full ownership of TV and film company NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion.

Comcast will buy the 49% stake in the joint venture that it doesn’t own from US industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE).

It will also buy the well-known 30 Rockefeller Plaza building in New York and another property for $1.4 billion.

Comcast took a majority stake in NBCUniversal in 2009.

NBCUniversal owns the Universal Studios theme parks, TV networks like MSNBC and E! and film studios like Universal Pictures, which made movies like Jaws, ET and Jurassic Park.

GE was planning to shed its stake in the business and the deal accelerates the takeover.

“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,” said Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive of Comcast.

The deal will be funded by $11.4 billion of cash on hand, with the rest funded by debt and stock.

In terms of properties, Comcast is buying NBC’s headquarters in New York and CNBC’s headquarters in New Jersey.

The takeover must still be approved by regulators and is expected to be finalized by the end of the first quarter.