Comcast Drops 21st Century Fox Acquisition Bid

Disney made a $52.4 billion stock-based deal for 21st Century Fox’s TV and film assets but Comcast jumped in to spoil the party for Disney last month with its $65 billion offer. Not only did it come in with a higher offer, it actually made an all-cash offer for $35 per share. This would have resulted in a bidding war for the company and it did. Disney later upped its bid and Comcast has now withdrawn from the race, leaving Disney the winner.

After Comcast made its bid, Disney countered with a higher offer that was priced around $38 per share, amounting to a cool $71.3 billion. Disney’s new offer gave shareholders the option to get their part of the sale in either cash or Disney stock which was subject to a 50/50 proration. This helped undercut the appeal of Comcast’s all-cash offer.

Comcast has not followed up with another bid and has now formally withdrawn its earlier bid. “Comcast does not intend to pursue further the acquisition of the Twenty-First Century Fox assets and, instead, will focus on our recommended offer for Sky,” the company said in an official statement.

It will now focus all of its energies in ongoing efforts to acquire Europe-based Sky. If accepted, Disney’s bid will get it the 20th Century Fox movie studio, its TV production division, and Fox-owned cable networks like National Geographic. A controlling stake in Hulu is included as well.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: comcast, Disney