type division industry mass media predecessor nbc line ge universal line vivendi universal entertainment mca inc. founded november 15 1926 ; 89 years ago 1926 11 15 as national broadcasting company inc. 1 2 joint venture between radio corporation of america rca general electric ge & westinghouse electric december 2 2004 ; 11 years ago 2004 12 02 as nbc universal inc. merger between ge s national broadcasting company nbc and vivendi s vivendi universal entertainment 3 4 january 29 2011 ; 5 years ago 2011 01 29 as nbcuniversal media llc a subsidiary of nbcuniversal llc joint venture between ge & comcast 5 2011 ; 5 years ago 2011 as nbcuniversal inc. headquarters comcast building 30 rockefeller plaza new york new york 10112 united states area served global key people steve burke president & ceo revenue us 28.462 billion 2015 6 operating income us 4.819 billion 2015 6 parent comcast divisions nbcuniversal television nbcuniversal cable nbc news nbc sports group universal studios subsidiaries focus features hulu 30 % telemundo telemundo puerto rico telemundo studios universal pictures illumination entertainment dreamworks animation universal parks & resorts the weather company 25 % website www.nbcuniversal.com nbcuniversal colloquially referred to as nbcu or nbcuni and formerly written as nbc universal is an american multinational media conglomerate . headquartered in rockefeller plaza s comcast building formerly the ge building in midtown manhattan new york city 7 the company is one of two successor companies to mca inc. music corporation of america the other being vivendi through its subsidiary universal music group . nbcuniversal is primarily involved in the media and entertainment industries ; among its most significant divisions are nbc one of the united states big three television networks and the major film studio universal studios . it has a significant presence in broadcasting through a portfolio of domestic and international properties including terrestrial and pay television outlets . via the universal parks & resorts division the company is also the third largest operator of amusement parks in the world . 8 nbc universal was formed on may 12 2004 by the merger of general electric s nbc with vivendi s vivendi universal entertainment . 9 10 ge and us cable tv operator comcast announced a buyout agreement for the company on december 3 2009 . following regulatory approvals the transaction completed on january 28 2011 . comcast subsequently owned 51 % of nbcuniversal while ge owned 49 % . 10 11 12 comcast intended to buy out the rest of ge s stake over the following seven years but nothing happened until february 12 2013 when comcast announced its intention to complete the purchase all at once and assume 100 % ownership of the company by the end of march . 13 14 the deal was finalized on march 19 2013 . 15 originally the nbc universal logo was a combination of the nbc peacock logo and the universal studios globe and text . the logo was redesigned by wolff olins on january 31 2011 to reflect the new comcast ownership 16 and the unity of its two main divisions . 13 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 television 1.2.1 combining with universal 1.2.2 global expansion 1.3 comcast era 2011 present 2 units 2.1 subsidiaries 2.2 joint ventures 2.3 parks and resorts 2.4 internet 3 references 4 external links history edit early history edit nbc and universal television had a long standing partnership dating back to 1950 when universal television s earliest ancestor revue studios produced a number of shows for nbc although they would have some hits on the other networks as well . this partnership continued throughout a number of name changes and changes of ownership . television edit main articles nbc and nbcuniversal cable nbc universal television has its modern roots in a series of expansions undertaken by nbc . in the late 1980s nbc began pursuing a strategy of diversification including the formation of two nbc owned cable television networks cnbc and america s talking . nbc also had partial ownership of several regional sports channels and other cable channels such as american movie classics and court tv until 2007 . in 1995 nbc began operating nbc desktop video a financial news service that delivered live video to personal computers . the following year nbc announced an agreement with microsoft to create an all news cable television channel msnbc using its subscriber base from america s talking network . a separate joint venture with microsoft included establishing a news website msnbc.com now nbcnews.com . in 1998 nbc partnered with dow jones & co. the two companies combined their financial news channels outside the us . the new networks included nbc europe cnbc europe nbc asia cnbc asia nbc africa and cnbc africa . in 1999 nbc took a 32 % stake in the paxson group operator of pax tv . five years later nbc decided to sell its interest in pax tv and end its relationship with pax owner paxson communications . 17 in 2001 nbc acquired the us spanish language broadcaster telemundo which included the bilingual mun2 television . that same year nbc acquired the cable channel bravo . combining with universal edit nbc universal logo television studio august 2 2004 august 7 2008 and television distribution september 13 2004 january 28 2011 in 2003 amid a major financial crisis caused by over expansion universal studios parent company vivendi universal entertainment a division of vivendi decided to sell an 80 % stake to nbc s parent company general electric . the sale and resulting merger formed nbc universal . the new company was 80 % owned by ge and 20 % owned by vivendi . 9 the joint venture encompassed vivendi s us film interests such as universal studios production and distribution units as well as five theme parks cable television channels including usa network sci fi channel the defunct trio cloo formerly sleuth as well as 50 % stakes in canal and studiocanal with vivendi owning the rest . universal music group was not included in the deal and is not part of nbc universal . 18 on august 2 2004 the television divisions of nbc and universal television were combined to form nbc universal television . nbc studios series bought into the company include the nbc dramas las vegas with dreamworks skg crossing jordan and american dreams . universal network television bought the law & order franchise and the district in fact universal network television had co produced american dreams with nbc before the merger . entertainment shows produced by the new group include the tonight show with jay leno late night with jimmy fallon last call with carson daly and saturday night live . the formation of nbc universal saw the establishment of nbc universal cable which oversees the distribution marketing and advertisement sales for thirteen channels bravo bravo hd eventually renamed universal hd chiller cnbc cnbc world msnbc nbc universo syfy shopnbc which became shophq after nbcuniversal sold its stake in the network telemundo cloo usa network and the olympic games on cable . nbc universal cable also manages the company s investments in the weather channel and tivo . the cable division also used to operate nbc weather plus until 2008 . it also owned a 50 % stake in canal and also owned a 15 % stake in a e networks until 2012 . 19 global expansion edit nbc universal chicago headquarters nbc tower . in the early 1990s nbc began its expansion throughout europe by creating cnbc europe and its long time successful nbc europe superstation by broadcasting nbc giga throughout germany and the rest of the european union . nbc europe helped to develop the leipzig based games convention the largest european video game exposition with more than 100 000 visitors each year . in 2005 nbc universal joined hana the high definition audio video network alliance to help establish standards in consumer electronics interoperability . later that year nbc announced a partnership with apple computer to offer shows from all the nbc universal tv networks on apple s itunes store . 20 in january 2006 nbc universal launched a new cable channel sleuth . the channel s programming dedicated to mystery crime genre . sleuth network s initial slogan was mystery . crime . all the time . in early 2008 the channel unveiled a new slogan get clued in . on august 15 2011 sleuth rebranded as cloo in order to be able to trademark and own the name as nbcuniversal can not so with the name clue as hasbro owns the rights to it with their board game clue . nbcuniversal also explained that another reason for the name change was the word sleuth is too common for search engines a google search brings up over 9 530 000 results . 21 22 one year later after sleuth s debut nbc universal announced that the company would launch a horror themed cable channel chiller on march 1 2007 . at launch chiller would be available exclusively on directv . the network would feature films like psycho and the shining and tv series that include twin peaks alfred hitchcock presents freddy s nightmares friday the 13th the series war of the worlds and tales from the crypt . nbc universal also stated that aside from the content in their own vaults chiller will feature content from other studios as well . in 2009 chiller unveiled a new slogan scary good . this replaced the channel s previous slogan dare to watch . on june 14 2007 nbc universal television studio was renamed universal media studios . the company explained that the reason for the name change was because the new name fully describes the company s mission to be the premier content provider for television and digital platforms spanning all television dayparts and creative genres . 23 in august 2007 nbc universal purchased sparrowhawk media group and renamed it nbc universal global networks . this acquisition gave nbc universal all hallmark channels outside the united states plus the british channels diva tv movies 24 hallmark channel and the upcoming channel kidsco . 24 later that fall the company also acquired the oxygen network in a separate 925 million deal . 25 the sale was completed one month later . in the summer of 2008 nbc universal blackstone group and bain capital announced their intentions to buy the weather channel from landmark communications . the deal closed on september 12 2008 . 26 shortly after the acquisition completed nbc announced that their existing tv weather network nbc weather plus would be shut down by december 31 2008 . in july 2008 universal cable productions split off from universal media studios and moved into nbcuniversal s nbcu cable entertainment division . 27 the summer of 2008 marked nbc universal s first venture into the united kingdom by acquiring british television production company carnival films . 28 on november 12 2008 nbc universal acquired 80.1 % of geneon entertainment from dentsu in japan merging it with universal pictures international entertainment to form a new company 29 geneon universal entertainment japan . 30 on march 16 2009 nbc universal owned cable channel sci fi announced that it would be changing its name to syfy replacing a generic term with a proprietary brand name that can be trademarked . the rebranding and name change took place on july 7 2009 . 31 32 on august 27 2009 a & e television networks a & e merged with lifetime entertainment services lifetime 33 34 giving nbc universal an equal share of both lifetime and a & e with the walt disney company and hearst . on october 20 2010 nbc universal owned horror suspense themed cable channel chiller announced a major rebranding campaign incorporating a new logo and on air look that launched on wednesday october 27 2010 . 35 36 to quote syfy and chiller president dave howe we have very ambitious plans