Business

Vivendi narrows bidder list to five

Associated Press

PARIS _ French media giant Vivendi Universal winnowed down a list of bidders for its U.S. entertainment assets Tuesday, striking tycoon Marvin Davis from the applicant pool for the coveted film, television and theme park businesses, sources close to the company's board said.

Vivendi's board, meeting in Paris, lowered to five the number of bidders still in the running for the Universal film studio, its related theme parks and the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks, the sources said.

Liberty Media Corp., General Electric Co.'s NBC, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Viacom Inc., plus an investor group led by tycoon Edgar Bronfman Jr. were the remaining bidders out of the original six, the sources said.

Davis, an oil billionaire who once owned Fox Studios, had publicly offered to buy Vivendi's entertainment assets for about $15 billion in cash and the assumption of about $5 billion in debt.

The sources, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, also said Vivendi's Universal Music -- one of the world's largest record companies -- was not being offered in the negotiations.

Vivendi quietly accepted the bids for Vivendi Universal Entertainment last week. The company is expected to take several weeks to weigh the bids and make a decision by the end of the summer.

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