Comcast, Disney and Dreamworks???

[BigNorm]

I got home from work about twenty-five minutes ago and caught the tail end of a story about the Comcast-Disney soap opera. The three men talking about possible turn of events mentioned Dreamworks. Does anyone know what this is about? Did I miss something while I was at class and work today?

 

[CTXRover]

I don't know...other than this merger/takeover idea has been circulating over at Comcast for over a year. Apparently ComCast got more intrigued about owning a "content" company like Disney when Universal went for sale last year. At that time ComCast was still busy with their AT&T takeover and didn't bid for it (GE/NBC bought Universal). However, that idea never left their minds and so that sat down at meetings to determine which company to go after. Time Warner was decided to be way too big and out of their league. MGM was considered too meager. And apparently Dreamworks was never even considered because they are relatively a VERY small company with very few strong assests. Then Disney came up as an obvious choice. After Roy and Stan's campaign made it painfully obvious how troubled the board at Disney was, ComCast took the chance to do the takeover now.

Perhaps that is how Dreamworks got tossed in there...that they aren't a potential target for ComCast should this Disney thing fall through for them....which if you asked me today how I thought things were going...it looks pretty good for Disney to stay independent....but that can easily change from one week to another.

 

[BigNorm]

Oh, thanks. I was a little confused about the whole thing.

P.S. Love the avatar.

 

[almost50]

Looks like Eisner is safe for now...

Just saw this on Yahoo Financial news:

The Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company today unanimously rejected the proposal by Comcast Corporation to acquire Disney by trading .78 of a share of Comcast for each share of Disney. The Board noted that .78 of a share of Comcast is selling in the market for $3.60 less than the market price of a share of Disney. This deficit of value in the Comcast proposal has existed from the very first day after Comcast announced it, when the deficit was $3.24 per Disney share or a total of $6.6 billion.

The Board stated, "We are committed to creating shareholder value now and in the future and will carefully consider any legitimate proposal that would accomplish that objective. In any proposal by Comcast, or any other company, the Board will consider and assess the value to be received in exchange for the shares of Disney, and also the appropriate premium to reflect the full value of Disney. The Board has confidence in the business, financial and creative direction of Disney under the leadership of Michael Eisner and his management team. Furthermore, the Board expects the company's current structure and strategy will maximize shareholder value. The interests of Disney shareholders, which represent the fundamental priority of the Board, would not be served by accepting any acquisition proposal that does not reflect fully Disney's intrinsic value and earnings prospects."

 

[CTXRover]

Re: Looks like Eisner is safe for now...

Originally posted by almost50
Just saw this on Yahoo Financial news:

The Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company today unanimously rejected the proposal by Comcast Corporation to acquire Disney by trading .78 of a share of Comcast for each share of Disney. The Board noted that .78 of a share of Comcast is selling in the market for $3.60 less than the market price of a share of Disney. This deficit of value in the Comcast proposal has existed from the very first day after Comcast announced it, when the deficit was $3.24 per Disney share or a total of $6.6 billion.

The Board stated, "We are committed to creating shareholder value now and in the future and will carefully consider any legitimate proposal that would accomplish that objective. In any proposal by Comcast, or any other company, the Board will consider and assess the value to be received in exchange for the shares of Disney, and also the appropriate premium to reflect the full value of Disney. The Board has confidence in the business, financial and creative direction of Disney under the leadership of Michael Eisner and his management team. Furthermore, the Board expects the company's current structure and strategy will maximize shareholder value. The interests of Disney shareholders, which represent the fundamental priority of the Board, would not be served by accepting any acquisition proposal that does not reflect fully Disney's intrinsic value and earnings prospects."

Hey, that's great news!!...for now. I imagine ComCast will take this "rejection" and just offer more for the company. Their bid was a little low in the first place but got even worse as their stock fell and Disney stock rose after their announcment, making the "stock option" bid practically nonsense. So either one of two things may happen with Comcast: a) they will make a bigger/better offer or b) they will wait until Disney stock falls and their stock rises again before making another offer.

 

[Pat X]

I read that they will only realistically raise their offer 10-15%, but that still won't match most institutional investors' target of $30-32 a share. Steve Burke said they won't be afraid to walk away...

well, its time to walk away NOW!!! :fork:

 

[brisem]

Originally posted by BigNorm
I got home from work about twenty-five minutes ago and caught the tail end of a story about the Comcast-Disney soap opera. The three men talking about possible turn of events mentioned Dreamworks. Does anyone know what this is about? Did I miss something while I was at class and work today?

I think what you heard was an article by AP last Thursday or Friday where they mentioned that Disney might try to purchase Dreamwork or Echostar. This would be an attempt to make Disney stronger and to strong for a takeover bid