Our spies are wondering whether new NBC Universal boss Steve Burke will continue the roller-coaster ride with Blackstone boss Steve Schwarzman.

Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal triggered a change of ownership clause on Universal's Orlando, Fla.- amusement park that would allow Blackstone to sell its stake, potentially to Comcast.

Blackstone has been a co-owner of the theme park business since General Electric and Vivendi agreed to create NBC Universal back in October 2003.

Private equity frequently sells assets at the seven-year mark.

Now that Comcast has full control of NBC Universal, its business partners are wondering what Burke might do with the handful of businesses that it co-owns with others.

Top of that list is the Universal Orlando theme park, which it co-owns with Blackstone. One source suggested that Blackstone wants to wait and see what Burke is thinking before putting a plan into action....

http://www.nypost.co...O#ixzz1CW8Hrkg0

Of course, what this reporter fails to mention (or more likely--didn't even know) is that Blackstone now has a strong theme park portfolio that goes way beyond Universal Orlando. The combination of the former BEC, Merlin, & Universal parks would make quite the collection of parks.

So, I suggested this in another thread, and I still think it makes a lot of sense... Blackstone has mentioned a potential IPO of Merlin, and Comcast had indicated that would have been their plan for the Disney parks if that acquisition would have succeeded. With the market heating up and IPOs expected to make a resurgence this year, why not create a partnership between Comcast & Blackstone to spin off all of their theme park holdings into an independent company? Granted, the park business has suffered over the past few years, but its cyclical...and all indications are the the cycle should start rising again.