Comcast Corp. is seeking to increase a bridge financing facility by as much as $60 billion so it can make a bid to buy Twenty-First Century Fox’s media assets ahead of Walt Disney. Fox had agreed to sell its assets to Disney for $52 billion,
Comcast will only proceed with the bid if a federal judge allows AT&T Inc.’s planned $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc, the owner of CNN, to proceed. Earlier, the US Department of Justice opposed the AT&T-Time Warner deal amid antitrust concerns.
Disney chief executive Bob Iger made an all-stock deal with Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch in December to acquire Fox’s film, television and international businesses. As a result, the world’s largest entertainment company will emerge.
Comcast already owns NBC and Universal Pictures and has also made a 22 billion pound ($30 billion) offer to acquire the 61% stake in Britain’s media company Sky Plc.
Earlier, Comcast said it was ready to pay 12.5 pounds per share of Sky Plc, the owner of Sky News.
Fox already owns a 39% stake in Sky. In December 2016, the company announced its intention to buy out the remaining 61% of the shares of the broadcaster for 10.75 pounds per share of Sky, which is 16% less than Comcast offers.
