There has been a formal withdrawal of Comcast from their $65 billion bid, which they were competing against to acquire 21st Century Fox, thereby conceding the rights to the entertainment company to Disney’s hiked offer of $71.3 billion. Comcast has said that it would instead shift all the focus towards their ongoing efforts for acquiring Europe’s Sky.
Disney had first announced their bid for Fox’s assets, including the movie studio 20th Century Fox, the organization’s arm for TV production 20th Century Fox Television, the cable networks owned by Fox and also a stake controlled in Hulu, through a $52.4 billion bad that had taken place last December. Still, after AT&T had successfully acquired Time Warner, Comcast was bolstered to make a $65 billion bid, all of the cash of its own, with the confidence that there would be no issue about getting the approval from the regulator for the deal between Comcast and Fox. The counter offer from Disney followed this through a bid of $71.3 billion last month, and now it looks as if Comcast is no longer interested in going any higher.
Currently, Comcast is in no mood to try and steal Fox out from Disney, and the antitrust approval is already wholly secured from the Department of Justice. It seems as if there are no hindrances left from the landmark acquisition by Disney.
Now, with Comcast no longer in the running, the shareholders of Disney and Fox would most certainly approve the deal at the time of 27th July’s vote. The franchises of Fox like X-Men, their movie as well as TV studios, The Simpsons, then cable networks like FX and National Geographic, their stake in Hulu and Star India, one of their international distributors.
Rupert Murdoch, who had led the charge at Fox in their quest for taking over Sky, will now take home a hefty amount as Comcast’s Brian Roberts had driven up the price for Fox. This might well make him as well as the shareholders of Fox more susceptible to part ways with Sky.
Email: ben@satprwire.com Phone: +44 20 4732 1985
Ben has been listening to the technology news for quite some time that he needs just a single read to get an idea surrounding the topic. Ben is our go-to choice for in-depth reviews as well as the normal articles we cover on a normal basis.
