NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - General Electric Co and Vivendi SA are about $500 million apart in talks over what Vivendi should be paid for its NBC Universal stake, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Speculation has risen in recent weeks that Vivendi will sell its 20 percent NBCU stake. General Electric, which owns 80 percent of NBCU, is in talks to sell 51 percent to Comcast Corp , a deal that would require Vivendi to sell its stake, sources have told Reuters.
Vivendi's stake is valued at about $6 billion, based on a $30 billion valuation of NBCU, according to the sources.
Vivendi's asking price is higher than anticipated, but "hardly a deal killer," a person familiar with the discussions told the Journal, adding that the strong euro is one reason for the price gap.

(Reporting by Anupreeta Das; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

((anupreeta.das@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-223-6224)) Keywords: GE VIVENDI/ (Click on http://blogs.reuters.com/category/themes/mediafile/ to see Reuters MediaFile blog)

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