Brighter outlook at Vivendi

TROUBLED French media giant Vivendi Universal today promised a bright new future after agreeing to merge its US entertainment business with General Electric's NBC.

It creates a £43bn titan and cuts Vivendi's debt to e5bn (£3.5bn) by the end of this year, from e35bn in July when rescue chairman Jean-René Fourtou took the reins. It ended 2002 with a record e23.3bn loss.

Fourtou said: 'By the end of next year, Vivendi Universal will be a profitable company with a low level of debt, and our teams will be motivated by the new prospects for growth.‘

Combining Vivendi's Universal Studios with GE's media assets will create NBC Universal, which will also own America's top TV outfit, NBC Television Network.

NBC Universal will be 80% owned by GE. Vivendi, will be able to sell its shares in the firm to GE at fair market value from 2006.