Comcast Increases Their Bid for Sky, Could Mean They Are Backing Out of Fox Bidding War

Comcast and Disney have engaged in a bidding war for 21st Century Fox for a few months now. Disney seems to be winning at the moment, and it may stay that way. Many analysts are assuming that Comcast’s interest in 21CF has to do with their portion of Sky, a really big British cable company. Turns out, Comcast is now engaging in a bidding war with Fox over Sky as they have increased their bid to $34 billion which beats Fox's $32.5 billion. Steven Cahall, an analyst for RBC Capital Markets, explains that this may indicate that Comcast is simply changing priorities since it can’t afford to go after Fox and Sky.

“We could be seeing a bidding prioritization by Comcast for Sky over Fox, perhaps due to the fact that Comcast cannot afford both, and has to choose its battles. The market’s collective wisdom appears to be pricing in a cool down in the bidding war for Fox with Disney and Comcast each rallying today, with Fox down 4 percent.”

Comcast wants Sky because they don’t really have an international market yet. Sky would open them up for better reach into Europe which could then snowball into a more global market. I know many of you are excited at the idea of Comcast backing out from buying Fox as that would all but cement Disney’s victory, but any thoughts about Comcast getting Sky?

Source: Deadline