NBC Universal Expected to Save GE $350 Million

General Electric Co. will save about $350 million this year from NBC’s combination with Vivendi Universal’s media assets, $50 million more than projected when the transaction closed in May, NBC executives said.

That’s in addition to the $125 million saved in 2004, about $25 million more than planned, Lynn Calpeter, NBC Universal’s chief financial officer, said at a meeting with analysts and investors at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla.

General Electric combined its NBC broadcast and cable assets with Universal’s film studio, cable networks and theme parks, giving GE 80% of the merged business. NBC Universal expects profit to rise to about $3.3 billion this year from $2.6 billion, while sales rise to $14.8 billion from $12.9 billion.

Shares of Fairfield, Conn.-based GE rose 7 cents to $36.39 on the New York Stock Exchange.