Comcast Rumored To Take Full Ownership of Universal Orlando

According to sources that are close to the deal, Comast is planning to purchase the other half of Universal Orlando from the Blackstone Group.

The sale is reported to come in somewhere between $1 and $1.5 billion, and remember, that's really only for half of the resort.  Premier purchased the Six Flags parks for $1.8 billion in 1998, and Cedar Fair the Paramount Parks for $1.2 billion in 2006, for comparison purposes.

Comcast, an enormous TV cable company, will have full ownership of the Orlando resort if the deal goes though, and now Blackstone will own only the SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment properties in Florida.  It's a significant change of hands for Comcast, a non-theme park company, to hold on to the parks instead of allowing both Blackstone and their halves to go up for sale.  You can't help but wonder if the amazing results that Harry Potter brought to the resort have anything to do with their decision.

And how's this for appreciation?  Blackstone purchased their half of the resort in 2000, paying $275 million - and now selling for somewhere between a billion and a billion and a half!