It’s Official: Zucker, president and CEO, NBCU; Comes Swinging At YouTube

As expected, GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt this morning announced that Jeff Zucker is the new president and CEO of NBC Universal (NYSE: GE). Bob Wright, who led the transformation of NBC from a network to a sprawling media empire, will “assist in the transition” and remain as a GE vice chairman. NBCU is 80 percent owned by GE; Vivendi (EPA: VIV) has the remaining 20 percent. In the announcement, Immelt said, “We have real business momentum, and the time is right to make this important transition. I like the team we have in place today, and believe that the future for NBCU is bright.”
As for Wright, even though he wasn’t ready to go, one plus for him might be the amount of additional time he can devote to “Autism Speaks,” a non-profit foundation he and his wife started after a grandson was diagnosed with the disorder.
More to come.
Update: Just got off the conference all with Messrs. Immelt, Zucker, Wright and others. A lot of talk about continuing momentum and the mention of some organizational announcements coming soon but not much detail when it comes to digital. Jeff Zucker did stress the need to get paid for moving content to new platforms, saying NBCU wants to put its content “in front of new eyeballs on new platforms with new money attached to it.” He called it one of the most important things the company has to do.
— Bob Wright will continue as chairman with Zucker reporting to him until April when the title and direct report switches to Immelt. Wright is expected to stay on at GE as a vice chairman through early 2008. Zucker said he hoped Wright will continue to be a leader in the fight against piracy.
— Wright raised the deal with Wal-Mart announced this morning as an example of how NBCU is expanding the ways it is distributing content. Universal Studio is part of the agreement; none of NBCU’s networks are taking part.
FT: Zucker came out swinging at YouTube: “YouTube needs to prove that it will implement its filtering technology across its online platform. It’s proven it can do it when it wants to,” Zucker said, referring to the site

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