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That’s how much General Electric Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin thinks NBC Universal is worth. Sherin told management consultant Peter Cohan it could be worth $40 billion to $45 billion, over a recent lunch meeting.

Looks expensive compared to other publicly traded TV networks Viacom, Disney and CBS, Cohan says after doing some “crude” back of the envelope math. Price to sales ratios for the three are 2.4, 2.0 and 1.8 respectively. NBCU generated $14.2 $7.1 billion in sales in the first half. Assuming a similar run rate for the year Cohan says NBCU’s value should be about $26 billion to $34 billion.

Cohan muses: “While I didn’t get the impression that GE is eager to sell NBC Universal I wondered whether Sherin’s mentioning a value could have been a subtle suggestion that GE would sell it for the right price.”

Let’s put this in context. The merger of GE’s NBC and Vivendi’s Universal assets were valued at $43 billion back in 2004.

A GE spokesman confirmed the lunch took place and added:
“NBC Universal is a great business that creates tremendous value for our portfolio and shareholders. It just posted its third straight quarter of operating profit growth, so we feel good about the turnaround that is taking place. We are investing in NBC Universal for growth. As long as we feel like we can run it better than others and it is creating value, it will be a part of our portfolio.”

(Updated with more GE comments)
(Corrects estimated revenue figure)