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07:33 PDT 26/09/2018
by
Georg Szalai
,
The companies are in a long-standing confrontation for the European broadcaster, in which Fox owns 39%.
21st Century Fox will sell its 39% stake in Sky to Comcast, which has emerged victorious over the weekend for the European pay TV giant.
Fox pointed out Wednesday that its stake in Sky is 11.6 billion pounds, or more than $ 15 billion at the current exchange rate, as part of Sky's Comcast-earned offer. The planned sale will allow Comcast to take full control of Sky.
Comcast won Saturday's initial control of Sky with a higher bid of $ 22.60 per share for the European pay-TV giant during a three-round clash that elevated Sky to 29.7 billion pounds against $ 20.50 per Fox / Disney. -share offer.
"In light of the bonus that Comcast has agreed to pay for Sky, we and Disney have decided to sell Sky's 39% stake in Comcast. We congratulate Comcast on their imminent acquisition. We are proud of the role our company has played in building Sky and the exceptional value we have provided to shareholders of 21CF and Sky and European customers, "21st Century Fox said in a statement.
Stock in the 21st Century Fox rose 37 cents, just under 1 percent, to $ 45.58 on the NASDAQ Exchange when trading late Wednesday morning, following the sale of Sky's stake to Comcast.
Walt Disney saw its shares increase by $ 1.50, or 1.3%, to $ 115.20 on the NASDAQ Exchange. As 21st Century Fox's current sponsor, Walt Disney has agreed to sell 39% of Fox's capital, which will allow the studio to reduce the cost of its separate transaction to acquire most of 21st Century Fox's assets.
"In addition to the net proceeds from the sale … the sale of Fox's Sky titles will significantly reduce the cost of our overall acquisition and allow us to aggressively invest in the creation and creation of high-end content." quality for our direct consumer platforms.to meet the growing demands of viewers, "said Robert Iger, CEO of Walt Disney, in his own release.
In addition to investing in consumer direct-to-consumer services, which will be launched in 2019, Disney also announced that it will "seek increased investment" in content offerings and international distribution from Hulu, Disney and 21st Century. Fox each holding a 30% interest. in the popular streaming platform.
Analysts were expecting Disney to probably negotiate with Comcast's 30% stake in Hulu, as it was looking to sell Fox's 39% stake in Sky after outbidding the European pay-TV giant.
Comcast shares remained relatively unchanged on Wednesday, after rising 16 cents, or 0.47%, to $ 35.56 on the NASDAQ Exchange during late morning trading. This phenomenon came a day after Comcast shares collapsed, analysts said.
In July, Comcast ended a showdown with Walt Disney for much of 21st Century Fox, including its Sky game. Disney won the bidding war with a bid of $ 71.3 billion. Comcast said that he would rather focus on Sky.
Jeremy Darroch, CEO of Sky Group, in his own statement, congratulated Rupert Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, for their support as shareholders and board members in the construction of Sky in as a European media giant.
"On behalf of all our employees, I would also like to thank James for his leadership as we have transformed Sky over the last decade, and with 21st Century Fox announcing its intention to sell its shares to Comcast, we are closing a chapter while opening it. Another goal is to make the next 30 years exciting for customers, colleagues and all our stakeholders, "Darroch said.
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