Comcast’s Co-CEO designate Mike Cavanagh said today that if the company was looking at M&A it would be interested in streaming and studio assets, and that it will have more options along those lines, and post Versant spinoff, than many seem to believe.
“I think we’ve said repeatedly, and I’ll say it again, that the bar is very high for us to pursue any M&A transactions given how strongly we feel about the businesses we have, the strategies we’re pursuing and the opportunities we have ahead of us,” he said on a call with analysts after quarterly earnings. That’s de rigueur ahead of any deal talk.
In response to a question, he said, “You should expect us to look at things that are trading in the space around our industry. It’s our job to try to figure out if there are ways to add value.” He would argue that value is being added anyway without M&A, through the Versant spin, pairing Peacock with NBC broadcast, attracting the NBA, wooing Taylor Sheridan and launching a new theme park, Epic Universe.
But Comcast would look hard at “streaming assets and studio assets, since there are no other parks assets out there … So I think in light of that, what we’d be looking for, and what we’re going to look like post Versant spin, I think more things are viable than maybe some of the public commentary that’s out there” seems to indicate.
Paramount’s deep-pocketed Ellison family is aggressively pursuing WBD, wich announced last week that it’s received interest from multiple parties, hired advisors and would be entertaining offers for all or part of the company. Warner rebuffed three escalating bids from Paramount before opening up a formal process. Comcast is interested. It has a history, having bid unsuccessfully for Disney and Fox. Donald Trump’s apparent sway over regulatory approval coupled with his stated disdain for MSNBC, NBC and Comcast CEO, chairman and controlling stakeholder Brian Roberts had many opining that a government green light was all but impossible,
Cavanagh implied today that’s not necessarily the case — an opinion others are slowly coming around to.
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