Comcast drops out of the $71 billion bidding war for 21st Century Fox assets, handing Disney victory
By Akin Oyedele, Business Insider - July 19, 2018
http://www.businessinsider.com/comcast-doesnt-plan-to-further-pursue-purchase-of-fox-assets-2018-7quote:Comcast said Thursday that it no longer intended to pursue its acquisition of some 21st Century Fox assets, handing Disney a victory in their bidding war.
The cable provider said it would instead focus on its offer for Sky.
Comcast had entered a bidding war with Disney for some of 21st Century Fox's assets excluding the Fox News and Fox Business channels. Disney raised its offer on June 20 for the assets to $38 a share, or a total of $71.3 billion in cash and stock.
"I'd like to congratulate Bob Iger and the team at Disney and commend the Murdoch family and Fox for creating such a desirable and respected company," Brian Roberts, Comcast's CEO, said in a statement: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180719005432/en/Comcast-Corporation-Statement-Twenty-First-Century-Fox
The cable provider originally held back on bidding for Fox's production assets until a federal judge approved AT&T's so-called vertical merger with Time Warner. A Comcast-Fox merger, like a Disney-Fox merger, would have been similarly vertical by combining a distributor with a content producer.
Comcast did not put in a counteroffer until after the Justice Department approved AT&T's merger with Time Warner. The Justice Department last week moved to appeal the $85 billion merger.
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