21st Century Fox Announces Intention To Dispose Of Its Stake In Sky
21st Century Fox announced today that it intends to either accept the recommended revised cash offer by Comcast for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Sky at a price of £17.28 for each Sky share in respect of the 21CF’s existing stake or sell 21CF’s existing stake to Comcast at the Comcast Offer price.
Disney has consented to 21CF’s decision to either accept the Comcast Offer in respect of 21CF’s existing stake or sell its existing stake to Comcast. The Comcast Offer values 21CF’s existing shareholding in Sky of 672,783,139 Sky Shares at £11.6 billion (more than US$15 billion at current value).
21st Century Fox have said:
“In light of the premium Comcast has agreed to pay for Sky, we and Disney have decided to sell 21CF’s existing 39% holding in Sky to Comcast. We congratulate Comcast on their pending acquisition.
We are proud of the role our company has played in building Sky, and of the outstanding value we have delivered for shareholders of 21CF and Sky, and customers across Europe.
When we launched Sky in 1989 it was four channels produced from a prefab structure in an industrial park on the fringes of west London. We bet — and almost lost — the farm on launching a business that many didn’t think was such a good idea. Today, Sky is Europe’s leading entertainment company and a world-class example of a customer-driven enterprise. This achievement would not have been possible without decades of entrepreneurial risk-taking and the commitment of thousands of colleagues, creators and dreamers. For nearly 30 years we have invested to create a dynamic and exciting business that has produced excellent returns for shareholders and has become one of the most admired companies in Europe.
We have provided greater choice and better value for families across Europe, and we have created more than 31,000 jobs across the continent. Today, Sky brings customers better TV than ever before and better entertainment experiences than many ever thought possible.
We are grateful to our exceptional colleagues at Sky for creating this unique and outstanding company and wish them continued success.”
My Take: It does seem that Disney and Comcast have walked away with large pieces of the 21st Century Fox pie, for Disney, its probably going to work out better in the long run that they have less debt by not purchasing Sky, opening the door to buying out Comcast and Time Warner of their shares in Hulu. However it’s not quite how the purchase of 21st Century Fox originally looked to be going down, but now it does look much clearer, Comcast get Sky and Disney get Fox.
What do you think of this announcement?