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Comcast Confirms Plans to Outbid Disney for Fox's Assets With 'Superior' All-Cash Offer

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Apr 12, 2001
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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-logo.jpg

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.
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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.

Article Link: Comcast Confirms Plans to Outbid Disney for Fox's Assets With 'Superior' All-Cash Offer
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/23/comcast-outbid-disney-foxs/
macduke

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,390
20,348
Oh great—so with Comcast owning all these networks we're only going to be allowed to watch those networks when using their internet because net neutrality is gone and they have a monopoly as an ISP in many regions. I would think that Disney would have a lot less conflict of interest than Comcast in this matter, but given the current administration who knows what regulators might approve these days.
 
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mscriv

mscriv

macrumors 601
Aug 14, 2008
4,923
602
Dallas, Texas
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.
 
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ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,597
6,116
If Comcast acquires this, would you not boycott the content?

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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C

cmwade77

macrumors 65816
Nov 18, 2008
1,071
1,200
Applebot1 said:
Being from the UK...is Comcast that bad?
Click to expand...
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.
[doublepost=1527093708][/doublepost]
ArtOfWarfare said:
If Comcast acquires this, would you not boycott the content?

My 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.
Click to expand...
I would love to join that ISP
[doublepost=1527094101][/doublepost]
mscriv said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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Robert.Walter

Robert.Walter

macrumors 68040
Jul 10, 2012
3,181
4,581
These companies need to be broken up into content and distribution.

Aircraft manufacturers and airlines, just like vehicle manufacturers and transport and shipping companies were broken up for a reason.
 
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A

Applebot1

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2014
706
880
UK
cmwade77 said:
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.
[doublepost=1527093708][/doublepost]
I would love to join that ISP
[doublepost=1527094101][/doublepost]
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.
Click to expand...
Wow that’s terrible and I sympathise.
 
T

TsMkLg068426

macrumors 65832
Mar 31, 2009
1,504
344
Thank you FCC for not stopping this now everything will be slow, tiling and all the same crappy reality shows. I have Charter Spectrum and it's crap like all ISP/Cable companies.
 
L

lip008

macrumors member
Mar 4, 2012
54
44
ArtOfWarfare said:
If Comcast acquires this, would you not boycott the content?

My 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.
Click to expand...

IdI like to form my own ISP as a giant FU to Armstrong. Lol... let's Don it!
 
W

wwchris

macrumors regular
Nov 13, 2009
156
169
Atlanta, GA
As DSLReports points out, Comcast’s overall customer satisfaction scores are still hot garbage. The company, fresh off an abysmal 54/100 rating in 2015 for its TV product, improved to 62/100 in 2016. That’s a significant jump, but remains well behind the 65/100 average, and companies like Verizon (70/100), AT&T (69/100), and DirecTV (68/100) are still mopping the floor with Comcast.

What’s perhaps most telling about Comcast’s public satisfaction score is that it’s actually worse than the scores the IRS received for its e-filing, small business, and self-employed programs. Yes, the notoriously frustrating and confusing process of filing federal taxes is actually less hated than Comcast’s TV service. You probably won’t be seeing that in a Comcast press release any time soon.
 
Carlanga

Carlanga

macrumors 604
Nov 5, 2009
7,132
1,409
mscriv said:
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.
Click to expand...
Don't forget the fantastic four as well
 
A

Anarchy99

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2003
1,041
1,034
CA
KevinPeterson said:
The rights will revert to marvel no matter who buys fox because per the original deal, they cannot be sold. Either way Marvel gets their properties back.
Click to expand...
wouldn't that only happen if ComCast disbanded 21st Century Fox and rolled it into Comcast or another property?

hypothetically if they purchased 21st Century Fox and it became "21st Century Fox a division of Comcast" since the entity that had the rights still exists, they wouldn't revert back?
 
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