Wall Street Expects Comcast to Top Disney's Latest Fox Bid

Wall Street analysts are expecting Comcast to make a follow-up bid for the 21st Century Fox assets [...]

Wall Street analysts are expecting Comcast to make a follow-up bid for the 21st Century Fox assets it has been competing with Disney over in recent weeks.

Earlier today, the Walt Disney Company made a $71 billion cash-and-stocks offer for the assets, which include TV and film studios, intellectual property, and more. The bid was a significant increase over Disney's initial $52.4 billion stocks-only bid, and a 9% premium over Comcast's recently-announced all-cash bid of $65 billion.

While the Disney offer seemed today to be a fait accompli -- shareholders voted to accept it, and sources indicated that U.S. regulators were prepared to approve it -- until it is official, Comcast can still make another bid.

That said, it does seem as though Murdoch is more eager to sell to Disney. While he has said that he would accept the highest offer, Murdoch originally rebuffed an advance from Comcast last year, and this is the second deal shareholders have accepted in principle for a Disney buyout. Meanwhile, Comcast's offer last week made them the frontrunner, but Fox executives did not even meet to discuss it before Disney had an opportunity to put their counteroffer in.

Fox shared closed the day higher and continued to rise in after-hours trading as a result of both the offer and anticipation of yet another bid. The stock is at $10 more per share than the $38 represented by Disney's current offer.

Disney and Comcast's escalating offers are likely a sign that both see the Fox acquisition as a key part of long-term strategy. Disney CEO Robert Iger has said that he believes taking on Fox's assets and intellectual property will help Disney regain its position at the top of a market where Netflix recently became the top dog. Some analysts have told Deadline, though, that the real strategy might be simply to keep the company too big to be vulnerable to the same kind of outside acquisition Fox is currently undergoing.

Earlier this month, AT&T's merger with Time Warner was approved, allowing the communications giant to buy up the storied media company for $85 billion. Only time will tell whether Fox will ultimately demand that same kind of money.

h/t Deadline

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