It is almost official that, Comcast will be bidding for Fox. According to the company, it is preparing a bid which will be higher than Disney’s b for Comcast. It is preparing an all-cash offer.
Comcast clearly stated that the bid will be at a premium as compared to allshare offer which it has received from Disney. Also, according to the company the offer is in advanced stages. However, no final decision has been made yet according to the company.
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Voting by shareholders shortly:
This announcement by Comcast is significant. The reason for this is that the shareholders of Disney, as well as Fox, are slated to vote shortly on the deal. That is why any rival formal offer will be significant at this stage. At the same point in time, Comcast is also in the wait and watch mode. It is awaiting the decision of a judge which will determine whether AT&T will be able to buy the parent company of CNN. The Justice Department has currently blocked that deal. It is subjudice.
Comcast has previously as well spoken about its intentions to bid for Fox. It has also been reportedly talking to various investment banks which will enable it to bid higher than Disney.
Comcast already owns NBC Universal. Previously as well, it has tried to bid for Fox. Earlier as well, it lost out to Disney. The reason was that the shareholders of Fox thought that the bid of Comcast will not pass to the regulatory hurdles.
On the other hand, Disney has gone ahead with its bid of $ 52.4 billion. This includes the movie studio business of Fox as well as sports networks. It also includes channels like FX as well as National Geographic. However, the company is paying Fox by shares rather than cash.
Breakup Fee:
Also, Comcast clearly mentioned that in the proper sense, there will be a termination fee which will ensure that Fox shareholders are benefited if they deliberate on the deal.
This deal whether FOX is sold to Disney or whether FOX is sold to Comcast will face regulatory hurdles. This is especially true after the Justice Department recently started an investigation against AT&T and Time Warner. Disney, for now, has stated that it will be paying Fox $ 2.5 billion if the deal is broken due to any of the regulatory hurdles. Similarly, Comcast has stated to be upping this number as well so that the shareholders of Disney are benefited. Earlier, when Comcast was planning to buy Disney, the breakup fee was considered too small. As a result, the shareholders did not pay a lot of attention to its bid.
According to some of the sources, the Comcast can bid as high as $ 60 billion. However, Fox did not comment on the rumors yet. It remains to be seen when Comcast is able to bid for Fox. Also, all will be dependent on the shareholders of Fox as to which offer they intend to go ahead with.
