Comcast Has Approached 21st Century Fox About an Acquisition
Comcast Approached 21st Century Fox Over Acquisition Interest
Unclear Whether Comcast is Interested in Buying All or Part of Fox
Updated Nov. 16, 2017 4:59 p.m. ET
Comcast Corp. has approached 21st Century Fox FOX 2.33%▲ to express acquisition interest, according to people familiar with the situation.
It’s unclear whether the cable giant is exploring a purchase of all or part of Fox. WhenWalt Disney Co. recently approached Fox, the two sides discussed a potential deal in which Fox would only sell its movie and TV studio, some U.S. cable networks and international distribution business, but not its news and sports networks or the Fox broadcast network. The Disney-Fox talks fell apart.
Any deal would be sizable. 21st Century Fox has a market capitalization of $53.68 billion. There’s no guarantee the talks will lead to a deal.
21st Century Fox and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.
(More to Come)
—Ryan Knutson contributed to this article.
Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com and Keach Hagey at keach.hagey@wsj.com
Comcast is in talks with 21st Century Fox about buying major assets, sources say
Comcast has approached 21st Century Fox and expressed interest in an acquisition of some of Fox's assets, sources said Thursday.
Talks are ongoing, a source said.
Comcast is interested in the same set of assets that Disney approached Fox about earlier this year, sources said.
CNBC reported last week, citing sources, that 21st Century Fox has been holding talks to sell most of the company to Disney, leaving only an entity focused on news and sports.
A Comcast-Fox deal would have the same regulatory issues that Disney would have in acquiring the Fox assets, the sources said.
Disney under U.S. rules could not own two broadcast networks. And that would be the same case with Comcast. Neither company is talking about purchasing all of Fox, sources told CNBC.
Any deal by Comcast or Disney would also likely exclude Fox's news and sports programming assets for fear of running foul of antitrust laws.
Fox shares jumped more than 6 percent in after-hours trading. Comcast shares rose about 0.75 percent, while Disney shares were mildly lower.
CNBC reported Friday that while the Disney and Fox talks were not ongoing, a deal was not totally dead.
Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
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so Fox is definitely selling, just a matter of to who at this point.
I know the main focus tends to be on the Marvel movie stuff, but I'm curious about how it would affect the TV side since that's also part of the potential deal. Whoever gets the deal would own things like the Simpsons, Family Guy, Empire, etc. It'd be interesting to see what Disney would do with those being under it's umbrella.