UK: Fox letting go of Sky stake

On Wednesday, September 26, 21st Century Fox announced that it will sell its 39% stake in Sky to Comcast for £11.6 billion (US$15.3 billion), handing control of Europe’s biggest pay-TV group to America’s biggest cable company.

Comcast, which topped the best-and-final offer of £15.67 per share from Fox and Walt Disney with a £17.28 per share bid that valued Sky at £30.6 billion (US$40.2 billion), had purchased 36.9% of the outstanding shares over the three days and will now have complete control of the broadcaster and its 23 million customers. Disney, which is purchasing the media assets of Fox for around US$71.3 billion, said it agreed to the sale and would use proceeds from the Sky sale, which is valued at around US$15 billion to pay down debt.

“Along with the net proceeds from the divestiture of the (regional sports networks), the sale of Fox’s Sky holdings will substantially reduce the cost of our overall acquisition and allow us to aggressively invest in building and creating high-quality content for our direct-to-consumer platforms to meet the growing demands of viewers,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger.

Full Content: BBC News