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Comcast Corp. might spend billions for a stake in NBC Universal, a deal that would transform the nation’s largest cable TV provider into one of the most prominent owners of TV shows, movies and other programming as well.
General Electric Co., which owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, has been in talks with Comcast to unload part of the entertainment unit, people familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are still preliminary.
Originally these people said Comcast was negotiating a 20 percent to 50 percent stake in NBC Universal.
But later they said a scenario under discussion calls for NBC Universal to be spun off into a separate company. Comcast would own 51 percent and GE would hold the rest.
Frontier Airlines emerged from bankruptcy protection on Thursday, under new ownership but still facing a tough competitive situation at its Denver base.
Frontier is now a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings Inc., which beat out a bid from Southwest Airlines Co.
Republic has said it will keep the Frontier name for its new subsidiary and there’s no change to its frequent-flier program, so passengers are unlikely to see any difference in the airline now that it’s out of Chapter 11 protection. Republic is looking for ways to make the operation more efficient, though, possibly including moving Frontier’s maintenance operation out of Denver.
Republic now owns all of Frontier Airways Holdings Inc. through its $108.8 million bid in bankruptcy court. The plan called for Frontier’s old shares to be canceled.
Whirlpool Corp. will keep a product design center in Evansville even as it shuts down its 1,100-worker refrigerator factory in the city.
A plan was announced Wednesday under which the city and the local airport authority will buy 105 acres Whirlpool owns near Evansville Regional Airport and lease the design center back to the company.
Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool says it will keep nearly 300 employees at the design center. It announced in August that the refrigerator factory would close in mid-2010, with that production work moving to Mexico.
Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel says he’s glad the city will be keeping the engineering and other professional jobs at the Whirlpool center.
Aspiring homebuyers rushed to take advantage of a tax credit for first-time owners that expires in November, driving up the number of signed sales contracts for the seventh straight month in August.
Construction spending also rose unexpectedly in August on the biggest jump in housing activity in nearly 16 years, another sign the real estate market is recovering from its four-year slump, data showed Thursday.
Sales and homebuilding are being fueled by a tax credit of up to $8,000, low mortgage rates and cheap foreclosures. In some of the most hard-hit areas, like Phoenix and Las Vegas, there are bidding wars for deeply discounted properties. And in all but a few cities, home prices are slowly starting to rise, reversing their three-year descent.
