Sky bidding war erupts with £22bn formal bid from Comcast
US cable TV giant Comcast has made a formal £22bn bid for Sky that values the UK broadcaster at £12.50 a share.
The move threatens Rupert Murdoch's attempts to take full control of the pay-TV group. The media mogul's 21st Century Fox has already agreed to buy the 61% of Sky it does not already own - an offer worth about £19bn. Sky said it was withdrawing its recommendation for the Fox bid following Comcast's move.
Sky shares closed 3.4% higher at £13.59 - more than £1 above Comcast's offer, suggesting a bidding war for control of Sky could erupt. Disney, which struck a $66bn deal with Fox in December to buy most of its entertainment assets, could also make a play for Sky.
Disney's $66 billion deal included Fox's shares of Sky.
See troll: Comcast CEO Brian Roberts: Sky Is a Great Opportunity but Not a 'Necessity'
Also at Bloomberg.
Related: Disney to Buy 21st Century Fox Assets for $52.4 Billion in Historic Hollywood Merger
Related Stories
The Walt Disney Co. has set a $52.4 billion, all-stock deal to acquire 20th Century Fox and other entertainment and sports assets from Rupert Murdoch's empire. The deal between Disney and 21st Century Fox marks a historic union of Hollywood heavyweights and a bid by Disney to bolster its core TV and film businesses against an onslaught of new competitors in the content arena.
Disney is betting on an ambitious purchase of a sizable chunk of 21st Century Fox, hoping that more cable networks, production studios and other properties will buoy it into the future as it dives into the direct-to-consumer streaming distribution business with sports and entertainment services planned to launch in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/disney-fox-merger-deal-52-4-billion-merger-1202631242/
Also at The NYTimes, The Verge, and the The LATimes
(Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday April 26 2018, @05:45PM (4 children)
I am glad that these giants are making such great investments, which will undoubtedly result in more choices, lower prices, and higher quality programming.
/poker face
(Score: 4, Touché) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday April 26 2018, @09:14PM
I disagree. More choices just confuses people. This will be good for everyone.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday April 26 2018, @09:27PM (2 children)
I agree. Choice is good.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday April 26 2018, @09:30PM (1 child)
Is there a third option?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday April 26 2018, @09:41PM
I have thought about this some more. Choice is scary and confusing.
A much better system would be one where Comcast just take $90 per month from everyone's bank account, then that nice Mr. Pai could decide what services they would offer later.