Comcast Outbids Disney for Fox's Assets With $65 Billion All-Cash Offer

Just a day after a U.S. District Judge approved the upcoming merger between AT&T and Time Warner, Comcast has submitted a bid for 21st Century Fox's TV and film assets, reports CNBC.

Comcast has presented Fox with an all-cash offer at $35 per share for a total of $65 billion, which beats out Disney's stock-based $52.4 billion deal. 21st Century Fox has already moved forward on a deal with Disney, but Comcast is aiming to change the minds of Fox's board members. From the letter sent to Fox's board by Brian Roberts, Comcast CEO.

So, we were disappointed when 21CF decided to enter into a transaction with The Walt Disney Company, even though we had offered a meaningfully higher price. We have reviewed the publicly available terms of the proposed Disney transaction, as well as the joint proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC describing the reasons for the 21CF Board of Directors' decision.

In light of yesterday's decision in the AT&T/Time Warner case, the limited time prior to your shareholders' meeting, and our strong continued interest, we are pleased to present a new, all-cash proposal that fully addresses the Board's stated concerns with our prior proposal.

Our new proposal offers 21CF shareholders $35.00 per share in cash and 100% of the shares of New Fox after giving effect to its proposed spinoff, providing superior and more certain value as compared to Disney's all-stock offer.

Comcast first announced its plans to make a bid on 20th Century Fox, 20th Century Fox Television, several Fox-owned cable channels, and a stake in Hulu back in May, but the company was waiting on a final antitrust ruling in the AT&T/Time Warner merger. It was believed that if the ruling had not been in AT&T's favor, that Comcast would have backed off of its efforts to outbid Disney.

Both Disney and Comcast are interested in Fox's assets to expand their reach beyond the United States and to stock their streaming catalogs with Fox content, which includes movies like Avatar, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Titanic, Miracle on 34th Street, The Shape of Water, and Gone Girl.

Tags: Disney, Comcast, Fox

Top Rated Comments

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ravision

18 weeks ago

Go AWAY Comcast! We want Disney to own Fox for the sake of superheroes.

Rating: 43 Votes

oneMadRssn

18 weeks ago

And yet they tell me I should feel bad about movie piracy...

Rating: 22 Votes

Dominicanyor

18 weeks ago

Wow all cash.. I see why I’m paying so much for cable and internet.. geez!!

Rating: 18 Votes

ethanwa79

18 weeks ago

I'd take Disney stock over Comcast cash any day of the week if I was on the Board. Could be SO much more valuable even in just the short-term future.

Rating: 13 Votes

Lord Hamsa

18 weeks ago

IIRC, the Disney deal also includes some $16B in debt assumption by Disney, so it's a $68B bid, higher than Comcast's $65B. (Unless Comcast is also assuming that debt, which I don't see spelled out here.)

Comcast's bid is all cash, though, as opposed to stock.

Rating: 8 Votes

hvfsl

18 weeks ago

I personally want Disney to win, but that is just because I would like to see a future Avengers movie with the x-men in it.

Rating: 7 Votes

69Mustang

18 weeks ago

I'd take Disney stock over Comcast cash any day of the week if I was on the Board. Could be SO much more valuable even in just the short-term future.

I'd take the $65B. That's guaranteed. Disney's stock value is subject to market fluctuations. I mean if they believed in Disney that much, they could hypothetically take $55B of the $65B and come out the even better. I jest of course. $65B is hard cash. Disney's offer could eventually be worth more or it could eventually be worth less.

Rating: 6 Votes

NinjaHERO

18 weeks ago

I just want Disney to get the rights back to Marvel and Starwars. Comcast can have the rest. I want the X-men in the Avengers-verse and maybe an original trilogy set.

Rating: 6 Votes