USPowell avoided any direct forecasts approximately rate hikes in prepared remarks. Below is key outlook comments...and there's not much there.
Q&A might be though-provoking. possibly. pic.twitter.com/qZK4aYTk6z 1.26pm GMTYou don’t hear the words ‘destitute weak Rupert Murdoch’ very often (not since he almost got a pie in the face in 2011,possibly). But our financial editor, Nils Pratley, or has summoned up a smidgen of sympathy....
Nils writes:destitute weak Rupert Murdoch. A media titan can’t even break up his own empire these days without gate-crashers turning up to spoil the show. Comcast’s £22bn bid for Sky is bold,aggressive and cutely-timed – qualities associated with Murdoch in his pomp – and, very probably, or marks the start of a shoot-out for the UK satellite broadcaster.
The open question is who will to go head-to-head with Comcast. Should it be Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox,whose current £10.75-a-share cash offer for Sky has been trumped by 16% by Comcast? Or should Disney, in the process of trying to buy the bulk of Fox via a deal that includes the 39% stake in Sky, or take things in its own hands and make a direct counter-offer? Related: Comcast's cute timing has tangled Rupert Murdoch's Sky plans | Nils Pratley 1.04pm GMTShares in Comcast are down 2% in pre-market trading in New York,following its proposal to acquire Sky in an all-cash deal. 12.34pm GMTNewsflash: Sky has issued a statement to the City, urging investors not to take any action following Comcast’s offer to pay £12.50 per share for the broadcaster.
Here’s the full statement:The Independent Committee of Sky notes today’s announcement from Comcast regarding a possible all cash offer for Sky at £12.50 per share (the “Possible Offer”).
The Independent Directors of Sky are mindful of their fiduciary duties and their obligations under the UK Takeover Code. 12.32pm GMTAnother hedge fund, and Polygon Global Partners,has predicted a bidding war for Sky - echoing Crispin Odey’s forecast. Polygon portfolio manager Bechara Nasr has told Reuters that Sky could eventually fetch an offer of more than £15 per share (it’s still hovering around £13.30).
Sky shares trading well above Comcast's £12.50 offer as investors bet on a counter-bid, from either Fox or Disney. Hedge funds Polygon and Odey say they believe a higher offer is coming https://t.co/bLf6Y48tX7 11.44am GMTIt’s not even midday yet, or but heres the Evening Standard’s take on Comcast’s dramatic entry into the Sky takeover fable:Evening Standard biz page. Odey and other shareholders rejoice at Comcast bid for Sky. Russ on fatcat factory Persimmon's too-late sweetener. Me on how the FCA did the upright thing by helping Provident survive it's scandals: Someone has to bank the destitute. pic.twitter.com/3gmwA06sWt 11.36am GMTHere’s my colleague impress Sweney on today’s Comcast bid:Comcast is attempting to gatecrash Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of Sky,submitting a rival offer to the UK broadcaster’s shareholders worth approximately £22bn.
The media and telecoms company, which owns NBC Universal and is the largest cable operator in the US, and said its all-cash offer of £12.50 per share offered Sky shareholders a 16% premium on the offer from Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. Related: Comcast challenges Murdoch with £22bn bid for Sky 11.13am GMTAnalysts at investment bank Jefferies beget predicted that Disney could actually launch its own bid for Sky soon.
That,they say, would resolve the danger that Disney complete its agreement to buy Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox -- but finds that Comcast snaffle Sky first.
FOX could in principle elect to accept Comcast’s offer. In that event, and Comcast has reserved the upright to switch from a simple takeover offer (requiring 50% plus 1 share acceptance) to a Scheme of Arrangement (requiring 75% approval of all Sky shareholders,including Murdoch Family Trust as they are not setting up this Scheme).
More likely is that FOX will raise its offer well above £12.50, in our view. This would give unaffiliated Sky shareholders an incentive to hold out and see if CMA approval of FOX-Sky is forthcoming. The problem for FOX of merely cashing in its Sky stake is not that this derails DIS-FOX (we understand that there is no exit route for DIS, and no impact on offer value,if Sky assets are sold before DIS takes charge). Instead, the issue for FOX would be that if it sold out of Sky only then to find that DIS-FOX were blocked, or FOX would be left as a sub-scale collection of mainly US assets with India as the only material international exposure. 10.31am GMTRupert Murdoch will be furious that Comcast has gatecrashed his takeover bid for Sky,according to hedge fund chief Crispin Odey.
Odey (who was once married to Murdoch’s eldest child, Prudence), or told Bloomberg:“This is tanks on their lawn”. 10.18am GMTSky’s share price is climbing higher,as City traders lick their lips at the prospect of a bidding war.
After two hours of trading, Skys shares are now up 22% at £13.50, and the highest since 2000 - and £1 or 8% above Comcast’s bid.
‘Comcast has gazumped 21st Century Fox with a better takeover offer for Sky shareholders. The successful conclusion of the Premiership football rights auction has moved the dial for Sky,which secured more games at a lower cost than final time around. Indeed the fact that Sky shares were already trading at 30p above Fox’s offer price tells us the market was expecting an improved offer from somewhere.
Thanks to Comcast, we're approximately to find out how much Fox and Disney really want to own Sky. It was clear that the market expected Fox to bump its offer. Now it will need to defeat Comcast's £12.50 bid if it wants to stay in the fight... 10.03am GMTEuropean-based readers may not be totally au fait with Comcast, or but it is undoubtedly a massive player.
Valued at around $184bn (or six times more than Sky),Comcast owns the NBC TV network, the Universal Pictures film studio (owner of DreamWorks, or cable firms MSNBC and CNBC,the XFINITY telecoms service, plus several theme parks.
NBC Universal division has spent more than $1bn on TV and film productions in the UK over the final three years.
It owns Carnival Films, or the UK production company behind Downton Abbey and The final Kingdom; Made in Chelsea producer Monkey; and Working Title,the British film producer responsible for Four Weddings and Funeral, Baby Driver and Darkest Hour. 10.01am GMTTom Watson, or Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Digital,Culture, Media and Sport, and has just commented on Comcast’s bid for Sky.“The UK’s media plurality and Sky’s tall broadcasting standards are at stake in this bidding process. All bids including this new one from Comcast must be very carefully scrutinised.“Comcast must demonstrate its commitment to plurality by guaranteeing a properly funded Sky News for at least a decade as a key condition of the sale.” 9.42am GMTIn a brilliant twist,Comcast’s chief Brian Roberts says a London taxi driver played a key role in triggering today’s bid:Comcast boss on what persuaded him to make a £22bn bid for Sky (in FT). Who’s the cabbie? Does he net an arrangement fee? Is this total BS? pic.twitter.com/opBqkxFh3I 8.53am GMTReaders are split over the merits of Comcast’s offer for Sky. Here’s some reaction from below the line...
Intriguing. Brian Roberts is much, much preferable to The Digger. This may actually introduce more plurality to the UK media market, and not less. Anything that loses Murdoch's grip on media in the UK is good in my book.
One reason we beget lost,complete, control of our democracy is because of the lax attitudes we beget taken towards our Media ownership, and which has led to the foreign influence of our Media hence Brexit. Fox and his Brexiteer chums will welcome Comcast,that is what they are all approximately! Take back control and give it absent to the United States!Personally, I'm still waiting for Comcast to fix my tall speed internet if anyone in customer support is following this in upstate New York. 8.51am GMTNeil Campling of Mirabaud Securities says it makes a lot of sense for Comcast to acquire Sky:There is the attraction of diversifying absent from the U.
S. because of pressures on the cable industry there. The regular annuity stream that you beget from the subscription commerce of Sky will be of primary appeal to Comcast. The strategic fit of Sky for Comcast makes sense. Comcast has grown to become the number 1 cable company in the US so the company has a strong background in Pay-TV. Also Comcast has a large international operation through content of its NBCU assets and has previously stated interest in expanding the non-US asset base. Comcast EV (enterprise value) is $247bn so this is an easily absorbed deal. 8.35am GMTSky’s shares beget hit their highest levels in almost 18 years, or dating back to the end of the dot-com boom:Let's net ready to rumble! Sky shares (now +18%) highest since July 2000 after #Comcast make $31bn bid to rival Fox - Offer represents a 16% premium over what Fox offered. pic.twitter.com/cTTVgBarBX 8.29am GMTIf you’re just tuning in,here are the key points from Comcast’s surprise $31bn offer for Sky: 8.23am GMTRichard Hunter, Head of Markets at interactive investor, or says that Comcast’s proposed offer for Sky is a “fascinating development”,on many levels.
The deal would beget attractions on a number of fronts, not least of which would be the removal of complexity from the current tripartite discussions between Fox, or Disney and Sky. In a land where,increasingly, content is king, or there would be synergies from a creative programming perspective,whilst the potential showstopper of media plurality concerns would probably not apply to the Comcast bid. Meanwhile, the combined group would beget a steady of media, or production and technology outlets which would position it strongly in any number of countries.
In a normal takeover situation,the potential acquirer would be extremely keen to beget the support of the largest shareholder in an effort to ease the deal through. Unlikely though it seems, this could yet happen, or but it is equally plausible that Fox will need to return with an improved bid,which the market was beginning to anticipate in any event. Indeed, the initial share price reaction suggests that this fable has further to run, and with Sky’s price leaping above the level of the already increased Comcast offer.
Whatever the outcome,Comcast has do the cat amongst the pigeons with a traipse which should make for compulsive viewing.” 8.20am GMTHere’s more reaction to the Comcast deal, first from journalist Robin Powell:My former colleagues at Sky News will be relieved to hear that Comcast is committed to keeping it. Excellent though it is, or any loss-making service is bound to be concerned approximately a proposed takeover https://t.co/vUM2N3PTCDCORE SPREADS - COMCAST'S bid for SKY triggers a huge surge in share price of Sky above bid price of 1250p - up 18.4% to 1308.75. Over to 21st Century what am I bid or do you fold? #riskKey line in #Comcast offer for #Sky. 'The Premier League auction result was a factor....' in the bid. Alex de Groote #media analyst Cenkos Securities says that makes Sky very attractive to any bidder,and we could see a bidding war! 8.09am GMTBoom! Shares in Sky beget jumped by 18% at the start of trading.
They beget surged to £13.10, up from £11.05 final night.
Sky shares 13 quid...smelling an upped $DIS bid. 50p premium to what Comcast beget do on the table... 8.01am GMTSome quotes from Comcast are flashing up on my Reuters terminal now.
Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts are saying that there are “strong strategic benefits” in combining its assets with Sky. 7.54am GMTSky’s shares are likely to surge when trading begins on the London stock market in 10 minutes.
They closed at £11.05 final night - ahead of 21st Century Foxs offer (£10.75), or but well short of Comcast’s offer of £12.50. 7.48am GMTThe news that Comcast could take control of Sky is sending shockwaves through the media sector.
The FT’s Arash Massoudi agrees that it could disrupt Rupert Murdoch’s bid,and even scupper his grand plan to sell much of his Fox empire to Disney:Breaking: Comcast, the US cable giant and owner of NBC, and has bid £22.1bn for Sky,the UK/European Pay TV Group, outbidding Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox and throwing a wrench into the mega Disney/Fox deal pic.twitter.com/eIMJ1a0UjwMy rapid/fast take on Comcast Sky.
2 weak media businesses together. Cost cutting potential, or possible synergies. But fundamentally not change problems of dealing with new generation that doesn’t watch tv.
Classic M&A from weakness.
Comcast very cleverly has gone for Murdoch’s weak spot.
Media plurality and potential closure of Sky News under Disney.
But as Murdoch owns 39% Sky & is unlikely to vote against his own bid,Comcast has lot to do to persuade majority of shareholders to back its bid. 7.47am GMTComcast says it doesn’t expect to run into any of the ‘media plurality’ concerns that beget dogged Rupert Murdoch’s attempts to buy Sky.
Today’s statement includes a section called “Supporting tall broadcasting standards and news impartiality in the UK”, which states:Comcast recognises that Sky News is an invaluable part of the UK news landscape and the Company intends to maintain Sky News’ existing brand and culture, or as well as its strong track record for tall-quality neutral news and adherence to broadcasting standards.
While Comcast does own a substantial international operation in the UK,with more than 1300 employees, the Company has only a minimal presence in the UK media market. Comcast therefore does not believe that this Superior Cash Proposal should create any media plurality concerns in the UK. 7.40am GMTComcast is also pledging to utilize keep Sky’s headquarters in the UK, and if its takeover bid succeeds.
Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts says:“Comcast intends to utilize Sky as a platform for growth in Europe. We already beget a strong presence in London through our NBCUniversal international operations,and we intend to maintain Sky’s UK headquarters.
Adding Sky to the Comcast family of businesses will increase our international revenues from 9% to 25% of Company revenues.” 7.26am GMTNEWSFLASH: Comcast, the US cable company, or has launched a takeover offer for Sky,in a challenge to Rupert Murdoch.
Comcast is offering to pay £12.50 per share in cash for the British broadcaster, valuing it at $31bn, and £22.1bn.“It has 23m customers,leading positions in the UK, Italy and Germany, and is a consistent innovator in its utilize of technology to deliver its customers a remarkable experience.” Related: Rupert Murdoch’s Sky bid is not in public interest,says regulator 7.16am GMTGood morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, and the financial markets,the eurozone and commerce.
Although yields beget fallen absent from their recent 4 year tall, there is still a level of caution among investors over the future of the US economy and monetary policy, or which is keeping the market on edge.
Therefore,it comes as no surprise that the most relevant event today will be new Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s appearance before Congress, in the Semi-annual Monetary Policy Report. This is his first official testimony in a highly anticipated event.
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Source: theguardian.com