NBC Universal Profits Plummet

NBC Universal reported that its quarterly profit plummeted 45 percent, even though parent company GE showed superior results.

According to an article on Variety.com, "GE shares gained 1% to close at $12.39 after the massive conglom reported net income of $2.74 billion, down 36% from $4.3 billion in the year-ago period. That was still better than most analysts expected from the battered company, whose key GE Capital unit has been a cancer over the past several months. The finance unit's profits slumped 58% to $1.12 billion."

GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt tried to explain the reason for NBC Universal's decline in revenue, "While cable continued to deliver double-digit growth, NBC Universal had a tougher performance overall due to a soft advertising market and fewer major DVD releases compared to a year ago."

Yet, another NBC Universal higher-up had his own thoughts on why the dip occurred, including the broadcasting of the Super Bowl, a write-down of the investment in ION Media and the timing of certain film releases.

The Variety.com article concluded with, "Revenue at NBCU slipped 2% to $3.5 billion and the operating profit figure came in at $391 million. GE reported only the 80% of NBCU it owns." Vivendi, a French international media conglomerate, owns the remainder of NBC Universal.