Disney CEO Bob Iger Addresses New Fox Bid

Disney has proved it is in to win the 20th Century Fox bidding war against Comcast, and Disney CEO [...]

Disney has proved it is in to win the 20th Century Fox bidding war against Comcast, and Disney CEO Bob Iger has shed some light on why.

After the Time Warner AT&T decision came down Comcast wasted no time in entering the ring against Disney in search of winning Fox's assets, but Disney just entered a new bid, topping Comcast's' previous offer and then some. CEO Bob Iger explained the reasoning behind the bid in a conference call with analysts from Wall Street (via Deadline).

"Direct-to-consumer distribution has actually become an even more compelling proposition in the six months since we announced the deal," Iger said. "There has just been not only a tremendous amount of development in that space, but clearly the consumer is voting—loudly."

That's why Disney raised their previous bid to a bid of $71.3 billion, 10% above the one Comcast submitted previously. This time the bid consists of both cash and stock, which is a significant rise from the $52.4 billion bid Disney submitted to Fox last year, which they accepted.

That stock cash split is a big window into just how serious Disney is about completing this deal according to media analyst Michael Nathanson.

"To us, the fact that Disney went well above the current $35 per share Comcast bid with a 50-50 blend of cash and stock proves to any doubters how serious The Walt Disney Company is about acquiring these assets," Nathanson said.

Iger ruled out any split in assets with Comcast, as their agreement with Fox specifically doesn't allow for that. He also made a point to highlight how approval friendly a Fox Disney deal is, especially compared to a potential Comcast Fox deal, despite the Time Warner AT&T ruling.

"The temptation by some to view this decision as being something more than a resolution of a specific case should be resisted by one and all," Iger said, following up with a quote from the judge's ruling. "One and all, as we read it, really includes Comcast."

"When you factor in their content ownership, already including a major broadcast network and multiple television stations and multiple cable channels, it's just simply an apples to oranges comparison to what the Justice Department was considering when you consider the AT&T acquisition," Iger said.

This doesn't mean Comcast is out of the ring entirely, as they will likely counter offer. Still, Fox has already accepted Disney's latest offer, so maybe a resolution is coming quicker than we expected.

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