LOS ANGELES Billionaire bids on Vivendi segment

But the owner of Universal Studios and Universal Music Group says it's not for sale.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Billionaire Marvin Davis, who at one time has tried to buy CBS, NBC and MGM, has made an unsolicited $15 billion bid for the entertainment assets of debt-burdened Vivendi Universal.
Vivendi, the French parent of Universal Studios and Universal Music Group, has been shedding assets but said Thursday that its movie studio, record label, theme parks and other entertainment units were not for sale. Davis said he plans to keep talking with the company.
Under the proposal, Davis would also assume $5 billion in debt. His representatives met with Vivendi Universal executives in Paris on Nov. 5 and soon after, the company rejected the bid, Vivendi spokesman Alain Delrieu said.
In a statement issued in Los Angeles, Davis said he felt the offer was a "full and fair value for the assets and VU's response has been positive." He said additional meetings with Vivendi have been scheduled for early next year.
Rejected
Sources familiar with the negotiations said Vivendi rejected the offer as too low and might be open to a higher bid or to selling some of the assets or spinning off the entertainment divisions and keeping a minority interest.
But any deal faces a huge obstacle in the form of Barry Diller, who owns 1.5 percent of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, the company that was formed last year to run Vivendi's U.S.-based entertainment operations, excluding the music group and video game divisions.
VU Entertainment was formed after Vivendi bought the entertainment assets of USA Networks, which was owned by Diller.
Any sale to Davis could also founder because of restrictions Diller negotiated as part of that sale. If Vivendi sells any of the entertainment assets, it may have to pay Diller as much as $2 billion to cover taxes related to the original deal.
Davis bought Twentieth Century Fox studios in 1981 and in 1984, wooed Diller from Paramount to run Fox. Less than a year later, Davis sold the company to Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
Davis and Diller are known to have clashed in their brief time together at Fox. Diller declined to comment.