Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) may wind up selling its 20% stake in Bloomberg L.P., the parent of Bloomberg News, to Mike Bloomberg.

Bloomberg, whose personal fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at $5 billion, can easily afford the buy back the 20% stake in his company that he does not already own. Given its financial condition, Merrill better hope that the New York mayor is willing to open his check book. Other media companies are not going to shell out big bucks for a minority stake in the company where I worked for seven years. This is especially true given that many of Bloomberg's biggest customers in Wall Street are cutting spending given the uncertainties in the world's financial markets.

Maybe the private equity players would be willing to pay up provided that they could see an exit strategy through an IPO. I don't see that happening either. Bloomberg, which the Wall Street Journal says has the right of first refusal for the sale, likes being a private company because it enables it to march to the beat of its own drummer. That was especially true when Mike Bloomberg ran the show.

NBC Universal, which is a part of GE (NYSE: GE), has apparently agreed to shell out $3.5 billion for the Weather Channel. The deal involves a partnership with two marquee private equity firms: Bain Capital LLC and Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX).

The transaction has weathered the credit crunch -- as well as survived a gestation period that has gone on for most of 2008. But, in the end, it looks like NBC got a nice deal (keep in mind that it looked like the Weather Channel tried to snag $5 billion or so).

The Weather Channel has extensive distribution (#3 in the US). What's more, there will be synergy with NBC's digital weather property, Weather Plus. Oh, and NBC has lots of experience integrating cable companies, such as Bravo and Sci Fi.

Although, perhaps the most important part of the deal is weather.com, which gets 36+ million unique visitors per month. This ranks it as the #15 site on the web. No doubt, NBC can leverage its advertising -- as well as other websites -- across this virtual real estate.

Finally, the Weather Channel transaction points to a possible new model for private equity; that is, partnering with strategic buyers. It's a good way to deploy capital but also get cost/revenue synergies.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

David Rubenstein, the co-founder of the Carlyle Group, recently predicted we'd see a comeback in private equity deals. Although, the transaction amounts would range from $2 billion to $4 billion.

Well, based on reports from the Wall Street Journal (subscription only), we may see a new deal soon.

That is, the Weather Channel is in the midst of an auction. So far, the leading bidders include: Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and a partnership of GE (NYSE: GE) and the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX). It looks like the auction is in the second round.

Now, the GE-Blackstone partnership is interesting. Keep in mind that Blackstone has a long history of such arrangements. Basically, it helps to alleviate the financial burden. Besides, Blackstone has a proven track record of showing cooperation with major corporate alliance partners.

And the price tag for a deal? The range is about $3 billion to $4 billion. Unfortunately, it looks like the parent company of the Weather Channel – Landmark Communications – wanted to fetch $5 billion. But the credit crunch is still taking a toll on valuations.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Maybe I'm weird, but I've always kind of taken The Weather Channel for granted. It's just kinda there and I never really thought it was that valuable.

But the New York Times is reporting that the station is for sale and is expected to fetch in the neighborhood of $5 billion, with NBC, News Corp, and Comcast among those said to be interested in making a bid.

Why is it worth so much? Because it's breaking news that changes frequently, the station is pretty much impervious to the effect of Tivo, a big draw for advertisers. In addition, the people who rely on the Weather Channel most frequently -- travelers, skiers, etc. -- tend to earn good incomes, another big plus in terms of attracting advertisers.

The Times adds that the station's website, Weather.com, "as the nation's 18th-largest media site by traffic, with more than 32 million unique users in November, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. That is bigger than CNN and Facebook."

On a smaller scale, the station has also produced a CD featuring the smooth jazz that is a hallmark of its broadcast.

If News Corp. does end up landing the network, Rupert Murdoch could end up paying about the same price that he paid for Dow Jones, the parent company of The Wall Street Jounal. But one's thing's for sure: The deal won't generate 1/100th the headlines that one did.

The Weather Channel, held by family-owned Landmark Communications of Virginia, is being auctioned off along with the rest of Landmark, and could fetch $5 billion. A number of public companies may have an interest. According to The New York Times, firms looking at the property include Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and General Electric (NYSE: GE).

The Weather Channel is attractive for two reasons. The first is that there are very few large, independent cable networks. Most, including CNN, CNBC, ESPN, and MTV, are already owned by media giants. The chance to pick up another large advertising-supported 24-hour product should be very attractive.

The second tremendous selling point is that weather.com, the online arm of the company, is one of the most-visited sites in the U.S. In November, comScore ranked it as the 16th most-visited website, with 34.1 million unique visitors. That puts it ahead of ESPN.com, CBS.com, and the Viacom (NYSE: VIA) digital properties.

The Weather Channel is a rare prize. The bidding should be spirited.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.