Comcast makes $65 billion offer for 21st Century Fox, setting up bidding war with Walt Disney

Washington Post ^ | June 13, 2018 | Steven Zeitchik

[EdnaMode]

Comcast made a stunning $65 billion bid Wednesday for 21st Century Fox in what is expected to be the first of many attempts to buy up pieces of the entertainment world in the wake of AT&T’s decisive legal victory over the government to buy Time Warner.

Comcast’s offer sets up a battle of wills between two of the most dominant and deep-pocketed entertainment companies in the world — Walt Disney and Comcast, the nation’s leading cable company which already owns Universal Studios and NBC. Comcast’s offer is about 19 percent higher than what Disney offered late last year.

But the headline-grabbing bid is unlikely to be the last to be announced in the coming months, given the government’s failed attempt to stop AT&T from purchasing Time Warner. Media and entertainment stocks soared Wednesday on speculation of a wave of consolidation in the industry.

Comcast’s is an all-cash deal at a significant premium over Disney’s $52.4 billion all-stock package. Its move will likely trigger a new offer from Disney and even a bidding war as two media giants battle for dominance both at home and overseas.

[EdnaMode]

That would certainly put a dent in Disney's monopoly at the box office. That would have a huge affect on the future of Marvel movies too.

[monkeyshine]

I think the Murdoch clan want seats on the Disney board. But hard to ignore this $12.5 billion over-bid.

[Skywise]

Star Wars aside - they would hold the rights to the x-men franchise and, worse, Avatar and all of its sequels which will massively impact Disney’s ability to use Pandora in Animal kingdom.

Disney is severely overextended here and running out of money fast. Marvel and the parks are the only thing keeping them in the black. (And they’ve severely raised prices and monetized all aspects of the parks to squeeze as much money as they can)

If they lose Fox to Comcast I doubt Iger will recover. On the downside that means he’ll do his best to run for President in 2020.

[Architect of Avalon]

Might as well bring the whole Marvel universe under one corporate roof.

[monkeyshine]

Disney market cap right now is about $155 billion. Assuming they offer $66 billion for Fox entertainment (which does not include Newscorp eg Fox news) they are valuing Fox at about 40% the market cap of Disney, and giving Fox shareholders about 1/3 of the combined company. That seems like an over-payment to me.

[be-baw]

It would have a huge effect if Disney gets the properties, but virtually no effect on their Marvel movies if they don’t.

[Parley Baer]

What does this mean for the future of Fox News and the likes of Hannity and Tucker? I am sure Smith is safe.

[USMCPOP]

I would bid, but then my air conditioning system at home just crapped out.

[monkeyshine]

Fox news is a division of Newscorp - a different company not a part of the deal.

[kaktuskid]

Disney OWNS Marvel, they would yank the Marvel properties from Fox if Crapcast buys it.

[kaktuskid]

Disney is the most profitable movie maker, Comcast hasn’t had a big movie hit in years.

[Skywise]

And yet they can afford 62 billion IN CASH - Disney can only offer 50+ billion in stock (printed money)

[Skywise]

No - Marvel was bought by Disney AFTER they licensed Fox to make X-men movies (and Sony Spider-Man) Marvel also sold Comcast unlimited and non-expiring (!) rights to use marvel characters in universal studios Florida! (Which is why you don’t see marvel characters in Disney world)

I’m not sure what the terms are for Fox but I suspect they wouldn’t be given up any time soon.

[caww]

Comcast offered to reimburse the company for the $1.525 billion break-up fee that Fox would be required to pay Disney IF it called off the acquisition, as well as another $2.5 billion should regulators block the deal.

Fox shareholders were expected to vote on the Disney merger on July 10.

[caww]

At stake in either deal are Fox assets including film studio 20th Century Fox, 20th Century Fox Television and the company’s 30 percent stake in Hulu.

[Gene Eric]

Comcast owns NBC MSNBC CNBC. Not exactly an honorable operation

[USCG SimTech]

Got a very bad feeling about all these mega-monopolies getting established.

[jdsteel]

I think Comcast is just raising the price to hurt Disney and they really don’t want Fox.

[Captain Peter Blood]

After reading a breakdown of Comcast and Att’s deals in the WSJ tonight I would say this, don't own either stock, if you have either of them now, consider selling at some point.

The debt that these companies are taking on is unheard of.

ATT alone with have something like $250 Billion in Long Term Debt, Comcast probably similar. With Interest Rates rising the ability to pay back will end up crippling them.

My guess in a few years, or sooner, they will have to sell off assets to make it all work. Then you have the prices you pay for cable and satellite which are going to rise along with Internet Access prices. There will be a huge rise in costs to pay for the deals.

None of these deals should even be allowed, these companies, along with Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc., should be broken up. Way too much concentration of media, etc. in such a few hands.