Last December, The Walt Disney Company
outlined plans to acquire 21st Century Fox and a collection of its subsidiaries for $52.4 billion in stock. Those plans have been under regulatory scrutiny for months and have yet to be finalized, and now Comcast has
confirmed it is in "advanced stages" of sending Fox a "superior" all-cash offer in hopes of besting Disney's all-share offer (via
Bloomberg).
Previous reports about Comcast's potential bid also referenced an all-cash deal, and put an estimate above Disney's to as much as $60 billion in cash from Comcast for the designated Fox assets. Comcast's press release today does not disclose an offer amount, but the company says the structure and terms of any offer would be "at least as favorable to Fox shareholders as the Disney offer."
Comcast says that its work to finance the offer for some of Fox's assets is "well advanced," and the company has already prepared to file key regulatory statements. Of course, no final decision has yet been made, but analyst Daniel Ives notes that, "If Comcast won these assets from the arms of Disney, it would be a devastating blow to [Disney CEO] Bob Iger."
In view of the recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”) and Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (“Fox”) in preparation for their upcoming shareholder meetings to consider the acquisition of Fox by Disney, Comcast Corporation (“Comcast”) confirms that it is considering, and is in advanced stages of preparing, an offer for the businesses that Fox has agreed to sell to Disney (which do not include the Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Company and certain other assets).
Any offer for Fox would be all-cash and at a premium to the value of the current all-share offer from Disney. The structure and terms of any offer by Comcast, including with respect to both the spin-off of “New Fox” and the regulatory risk provisions and the related termination fee, would be at least as favorable to Fox shareholders as the Disney offer.
As of now, recent reports have stated that the Comcast/Fox offer's final fate may rely on the government's decision regarding AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner. Similar to AT&T owning DirecTV, Comcast owns NBCUniversal, and both companies are looking into purchasing large TV programming entities.
Because of this, it's believed Comcast will take a wait-and-see approach, and if a U.S. judge rules against AT&T on antitrust grounds in a trial coming next month, Comcast is expected to back off of Fox's assets. If AT&T wins the case and Comcast moves forward with a bid,
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Paul Sweeney says the Disney vs. Comcast bidding war would be intense: "Disney is likely to put up quite a fight."
Disney and Comcast are looking at Fox's entertainment assets in hopes of expanding their reach outside of the United States, as well as stocking their streaming back catalogs with a quick rush of content. Movie assets that either company could gain from 21st Century Fox include Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox 2000, homes of movies like
Avatar,
X-Men,
Fantastic Four,
Deadpool,
The Grand Budapest Hotel,
The Shape of Water, and
Gone Girl.
For TV shows, Fox's TV production companies include Twentieth Century Fox Television, as well as FX Productions and Fox21, which bring viewers shows like
The Simpsons,
This Is Us, and
The Americans. Notably, the winning bidder would gain Fox's 30 percent stake in Hulu, and if Disney acquires the company it would become a majority shareholder of the streaming service.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Subscription rates will go up. Again.
Yup. God, I hate Comcast with a passion.
whos more evil disney or comcast? i vote comcast all day everyday
Overall Disney isn't evil, they really are just trying to make money, which is not evil, Comcast on the other hand tries to screw over the customer every chance they get, that is indeed evil.Being from the UK...is Comcast that bad?
Worse, here are a few examples:* Tech support hold times are over an hour
* One month your bill will be $50, then the next it will increase to $150 with absolutely no notice and since they (at least in our area at the time) required AutoPay, you had not idea it was going to happen until they took the money (I wish I was making that one up)
* You call to complain about this and they disconnect the call every time saying they "lost your call" and it is another hour or so to get a hold of anyone.
* They implemented data caps.throttling on what were sold as "unlimited plans" with little to no notice
* Refusing to cancel service when you cancel it
* Giving priority bandwidth to their own services and to services that pay them extra money
The list goes on and on, seriously they are pure evil, do not let them anywhere near anything in your country, have protests, write your government, whatever it takes to keep them out.
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If Comcast acquires this, would you not boycott the content?
I would love to join that ISPMy hatred for Comcast cannot be underestimated.
My wife pays the Comcast internet bill. If she didn't, I'd be in the process of forming my own ISP which would exist for the sole purpose of being an FU to Comcast.
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Hmm... I was kinda hoping Marvel Studios (Disney) would get the rights back to all of the characters that are under contract to Fox. I like what Fox has done with Deadpool and look forward to seeing the upcoming New Mutants movie, but I think Marvel Studios could do much better with the X-Men than what Fox has put out.
They might still, no one has ever said that FOX is even interested in an all cash offer. An offer with Disney stocks would most likely prove more profitable in the long run than an all cash offer, especially since Disney would be getting all the Marvel properties back in their wheelhouse, it will ultimately mean Disney stocks will skyrocket.FOX may entertain the idea for a bit, but I don't think they would seriously consider a deal with Comcast for the reasons I mentioned and I don't thing regulators would allow this one to go through because it would be way too many studios under the Comcast umbrella. Yes, Disney has a few, but Comcast has more.
These companies need to be broken up into content and distribution.
No. I need all of Marvel's heroes under one house. It's time to do the F4 the Justice it deserves.Aircraft manufacturers and airlines, just like vehicle manufacturers and transport and shipping companies were broken up for a reason.
My hatred for Comcast cannot be overestimated.
My wife pays the Comcast internet bill. If she didn't, I'd be in the process of forming my own ISP which would exist for the sole purpose of being an FU to Comcast.
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