The Last To Know?

NBC Universal's Jeff Zucker tells Crain's NY Business that NBCU is not for sale. Got that? Jeff is positive. So never mind the steady Wall Street buzz, about the de-conglomeratization of General Electric, just read Jeff's lips: No sale by GE of NBC--nosiree.

Of course, Zucker would be the last to know. That's always the case these days with CEO's on their way out. In all the big corporate defenestrations of recent years--Carly Fiorina of H-P, Hank Greenberg of AIG, Harry Stonecipher of Boeing, and, just today, Stan O'Neal of Merrill Lynch--the CEO was the last to know. That is, the board met, away from the CEO, made a decision, and then delivered the news.

Why? Because the CEO is always happy with the status quo--him or her being in charge, what's not to like? And since, typically, the CEO has a seat on the board, the firing majority needs to keep it a secret.

But note the weasel words that Zucker used, according to Crain's :

Speaking at a breakfast organized by Syracuse University's Newhouse School, Mr. Zucker said it made little sense for GE to sell NBC in coming months because of a variety of advertising opportunities that would become available.

Note the key phrase above: "it made little sense for GE to sell NBC in coming months." Well, heck, Jeff, talk about beating down a straw man!

Nobody is saying that GE is going to sell NBC tomorrow; they are saying, in fact, that GE would unload NBC after the Beijing Olympics, scheduled for August 8-24, 2008. And let's say that nothing would happen before the November '08 presidential election, either.

So The Cable Gamer predicts that Jeff has about a year to find something new to do--because that's when the other Jeff, Jeff Immelt, starts looking for a buyer.

Hint: Think a private equity player. They're all rich, but don't have the visibility to match their wealth. Buying a network using someone else's money? Now that's a plan!