Liberty in talks to buy Vivendi's entertainment arm

Malone met Jean-Bernard Levy, chief operating officer of Vivendi Universal, to discuss bid terms and structure last week. Liberty is expected to finalise an offer for Vivendi's cable television assets, movie studios and theme parks in the coming days.

Levy has set a June 23 deadline for preliminary offers for Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE), the joint venture created by last year's $10.3bn acquisition of USA Networks, the cable group led by Barry Diller, the US media entrepreneur.