The months-long bidding war between Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, Financial) and The Walt Disney Co. (DIS, Financial) for Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.’s (FOXA, Financial) movie studio and television assets has come to an end, concluding one of the biggest battles in the media industry this year.
On Thursday, the Philadelphia-based cable company announced it is dropping its bid for Fox in order to pursue British satellite TV company Sky PLC (LSE:SKY, Financial) instead.
Last month, Disney increased its offer for the New York-based entertainment giant to $71.3 billion in cash and stock, surpassing Comcast’s $65 billion all-cash bid. The deal has since been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice and will be voted on by shareholders later this month.
In a statement, Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts acknowledged the union.
“I’d like to congratulate Bob Iger and the team at Disney and commend the Murdoch family and Fox for creating such a desirable and respected company," he said.
To make the process even more interesting in regard to its pursuit of Sky, Comcast has some competition from Fox, which owns 39% of the company already. Last week, both companies upped the ante, with Fox proposing $32.5 billion and Comcast offering $34 billion.
In morning trading on Thursday, Comcast was up 2.85% at $35.01 and Disney was up 3.4% at $114.47, while Fox’s Class A shares were down 1.52% at $45.97. Sky closed lower on the London exchange on Thursday.
According to GuruFocus, Comcast shares have fallen approximately 15% year to date, while Disney has gained 1%, Fox has risen 28% and Sky has climbed 51%.
Disclosure: No positions.
