Chief executive says GE won’t sell NBC Universal

The chief executive of General Electric Co. is telling investors that the industrial and financial conglomerate will not sell NBC Universal, despite recurring speculation that GE would shed its media and entertainment division.

Jeffrey Immelt, in a message to investors in GE’s annual report to be released today, called NBC Universal a “great example of a business that becomes more valuable as its market evolves.”

“Should we sell NBC-U? The answer is no! I just don’t see it happening, not before the Olympics, not after the Olympics,” Immelt said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

NBC will televise the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

GE executives believe that the broadcast model will grow more slowly in an increasingly digital industry, and they have refocused NBC in global markets around faster-growing cable, film and digital businesses, Immelt said.

The businesses represent more than 80% of NBC’s earnings and are growing at about 15% annually, he said.

“We are in a good cycle, with momentum around the Beijing Olympics, the U.S. elections and the 2009 Super Bowl,” Immelt said.

NBC accounted for $15.4 billion in revenue last year, down about 5% from 2006, and accounted for about 9% of GE’s total revenue of $172.7 billion. Profit, however, was up more than 6% to $3.1 billion.

Last year, Fairfield, Conn.-based GE sold its plastics division for about $11.6 billion and, citing the troubled sub-prime mortgage industry, sold its U.S. mortgage business for $117 million.

General Electric owns 80% of NBC Universal, with the other 20% controlled by French firm Vivendi.