Comcast makes rival £22bn bid for Sky, threatening Rupert Murdoch's offer

US Media giant Comcast has made a £22bn bid for Sky that threatens to scupper a rival offer from Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.

The £12.50 per share offer sent Sky's stock up 3 per cent on Wednesday.

Comcast owns NBC and Universal Pictures among a host of other businesses.

In December 2016, Fox agreed to buy the 61 per cent of Sky that it does not already own but that takeover has been held up by a slew of regulatory concerns.

“We are delighted to be formalising our offer for Sky today,” Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said.

“We have long believed Sky is an outstanding company and a great fit with Comcast. Sky has a strong business, excellent customer loyalty, and a valued brand. It is led by a terrific management team who we look forward to working with to build and grow this business.”

Comcast, which also owns DreamWorks Animation and channels such as MSNBC, CNBC and The Weather Channel, is one of the world’s largest broadcasting companies.

It already has around 1,300 employees in the UK and over the past three years it has invested more than $1bn (£700m) in film and TV productions in the UK through its NBCUniversal business, which has a head office in London. The group is also a major provider of internet services, through its Xfinity brand, and a major phone service provider in the US.

In 2014, it agreed to a $45.2bn takeover of Time Warner Cable, but that deal was abandoned after US regulators raised a host of anti-trust concerns.

Last year it pursued a deal to snap up Fox’s assets, but it dropped that offer in December paving the way for Walt Disney’s $52bn attempt to secure most of the Fox’s film, television and international assets.

According to data analytics group Dealogic, if the deal goes ahead, it would be the sixth biggest UK targeted M&A deal on record.

• More about:
• Comcast
• Sky
• Rupert Murdoch

Reuse contentRead the Original Article