US cable TV giant Comcast puts a bold £22bn bid to take over Sky TV in a move much like a Game of Thrones episode
Murdoch wants 61 per cent of the company, but Comcast have made it clear they want 'to acquire over 50 per cent of Sky shares'
US cable TV giant COMCAST has staged an audacious £22billion takeover raid on SKY TV in a move worthy of a Game of Thrones episode.
It gazumps an £18.5billion bid by Rupert Murdoch’s 21ST CENTURY FOX to snap up the 61 per cent it does not own.
Comcast chief exec Brian Roberts said: “We would like to own the whole of Sky and we will be looking to acquire over 50 per cent of the Sky shares.”
He said Sky, whose Sky Atlantic channel shows the hit US fantasy drama starring Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister was “an outstanding company” and he was confident regulators would clear the offer.
Comcast’s bid of £12.50 per share is 16 per cent higher than the £10.75 Fox offer. The prospect of a bidding war sent Sky shares up more than 20 per cent.
They ended the day on £13.30 per share — up 225p.
Laith Khalaf, of brokers HARGREAVES LANSDOWN, said the Comcast bid had come as no surprise.
He added: “The conclusion of the Premiership football rights auction has moved the dial for Sky.
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“It scored more games at a lower cost than last time around.” Comcast is the biggest cable TV outfit in the US and owns the NBC TV network as well as Universal Pictures.
Universal’s Dreamworks Animation operation is the name behind big-screen hits such as Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.
Industry analysts say the bid makes a lot of sense because it would give Comcast an instant foothold in major pay-TV markets where Sky operates such as the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.