Anything-Goes Deal World Emboldens Comcast to Fight for Fox
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
And AT&T-Time Warner hasn’t even been decided in court yet.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Just as I expected. Efforts by the U.S. Justice Department to block AT&T Inc.’s takeover of Time Warner Inc. look set to fail. Now, newly emboldened acquirers are coming out of the woodwork to attempt their own megadeals that would have normally been seen as problematic from a regulatory standpoint. So here comes Comcast Corp., ready to give this new anything-goes deal environment a shot.
Comcast, the cable giant, is reportedly trying to line up financing so that it can make a counteroffer for 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainment assets. Fox had already agreed in December to sell those assets to Walt Disney Co. for $52 billion, plus the assumption of some debt. But Comcast wants them so badly that, evidently, it’s willing to double its own debt level to make what may be a more palatable all-cash bid than Disney’s stock-only offer.