NBC Uni sell Spain.

[wdwmaniac]

Resort News - (6/21/04) NBC Universal sold off their 37% ownership stakes in the theme park resort to La Caixa, a Spanish Bank partner in the park, for $30 million. This move brings up the ownership of La Caixa to 80%, with the remaining shares going to Anheuser-Busch (13.6%) and Abertis (6.3%). Through a licensing agreement the park will keep the Universal name and merchandise.

This just proves that if Comcast took over Disney they probably would have done the same thing. They are all about profits and the bottom line not the theme parks. The rumors have it the rest of the parks are going up for sale. Maybe Disney will buy them and add them to there collection.

 

[Shaman]

The rumors have it the rest of the parks are going up for sale. Maybe Disney will buy them and add them to there collection.

There's always a chance and a possibility...but I doubt it...wouldn't that be something if it happened, though....

 

[speck76]

This just proves that if Comcast took over Disney they probably would have done the same thing. QUOTE]

This does not really prove anything. This park was not really profitable for Universal, and the fact that they only had a 1/3 stake in the park would mean that it was an easy asset to sell off.

Since WDC has a 100% stake in the American parks, the sell-off would be much harder...and IMO they would have more likely been spun-off, that way Comcast/WDC could have been a stakeholder in the parks without being the actual owner....they could split the costs of the parks with others.

 

[wdwmaniac]

But a full out sell out by Comcast would have generated a nice profit to lessen the debt load. Unlike NBC Uni the debt would have killed Comcast and the parks probably would have gotten the ax. NBC got big pockets because of GE.

 

[NemoRocks78]

The rumors have it the rest of the parks are going up for sale. Maybe Disney will buy them and add them to there collection.

That's highly unlikely. I don't think Disney would invest into an entirely different resort clear across town.

I still believe that NBC won't sell off any of their other parks. They sold this one because it was never profitable. (guess this means a Universal Studios park will never come to Spain)

 

[Figment1986]

I heard that The Japan park would be next... Any idea how much NBC owns of that park?? (It would be a harder park to let go, since it is built off of the American counterparts, unlike spain)

 

[cloudboy]

The parks aren't as tightly knitted to the Universal brand as the Disney parks are. Perhaps the one in California, and the one in Florida has some impact, but the others I just don't think have that connection. I could be wrong, though.

I would HATE for Disney to buy the other parks. Too much for them to handle, would spread them out too thin, and it would just dilute the product.

There is a big difference between Universal and Disney and the parks. The Disney parks and Disney animation are virtually synonymous. There is no way you could split one off from the other - it would seriously jeopardize both brands, and no business person would ever do that. Too important.

I personally think the Comcast takeover never intended to just own Disney. They wanted the media holdings, a good lucrative movie deal and in particular, ESPN. I think that what's his name (can't think of his name now) pretty much was set to spin off the parks, animation, perhaps some of the live action business, and the vacation stuff on it's own under his control.

 

[wdwmaniac]

I think that Selling the US parks is not far fetched NBC Uni is in it for profits because of GE so I think the parks are going.