No Labor Day break for VUE bidders: NBC is relaxed, and Bronfman's getting anxious over Vivendi deal.(Top of the Week)(Vivendi continues to take a slow pace in its divestitutre of Vivendi Universal Entertainment)

Broadcasting & Cable, September, 2003 by Higgins, John M.

The Labor Day weekend was shaping up to be a lot more laborious than NBC and General Electric executives had anticipated, as the slow pace of the company's chase for Vivendi Universal Entertainment abruptly shifted gears.

Early last week, Vivendi executives cautioned that they might spend a month evaluating the two remaining suitors. But by week's end, NBC CEO Bob Wright had cut short a vacation and returned to New York, and dealmakers at parent company General Electric were expecting to be working the deal with Vivendi's lawyers and investment bankers over the weekend.

The deal squad working for rival Edgar Bronfman Jr. were expecting to be no less busy. Unlike the folks at GE, though, Bronfman's crew was angst and anxious that the prize was...

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