Comcast Successes

Hello Group 5,

Below is my portion of the project. Sorry, it is late; I think I shut the system down! I was trying to do an attachment. Oh well, it didn't work!

MMM

Comcast Successors
Comcast is a multi media cable company that attributes the success of the company to mergers that assisted in Comcast becoming the largest media company in history. Mergers and acquisitions of such companies with the majority stakes in Comcast-Spectacor, the owner of the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers; Comcast SportsNet, E! Entertainment Television, the Style Network, Golf Channel, Outdoor Life Network and G4 have defined Comcast as a conglomerate cable network. When Comcast merged with AT&T Broadband in November 2002, they became the largest cable TV company in the country with 21 million subscribers. As time continued, so did the success of Comcast.
Comcast began the road to fame in 1996 when they completed a $1.49 billion acquisition of E.W. Scripps Co.’s cable television operations, raising its total subscribers to 4.3 million. After acquiring rival cable systems including Jones Intercable Inc. and Lenfest Communications Inc., Comcast grew to the nation’s third largest cable operator with more than 8 million subscribers. In addition to the takeover of the two cable companies, Comcast announced a $520 million deal to buy majority ownership of Comcast- Spectacor, owner of Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers and the Spectrum and Corestates Center, the city’s two indoor sports arenas. This ensured Comcast sweep of stardom.
In 2002, Comcast completed the acquisition of AT&T’s cable division for about $29 billion in stock to become the nation’s largest cable operator with about 22 million subscribers, nearly twice as many as second-place AOL Time Warner Inc. In a statement, Comcast stated, “The merger will also generate significant operating efficiencies and overhead cost savings. Within five years, the companies say in the document, the merger should result in $1.25 billion to $1.95 billion a year in increased earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. That's actually far less than the estimated $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion in potential annual cost savings and synergies Comcast said it could expect when it first announced its bid last July.” But it was only late last year that Comcast was able to perform a thorough review of AT&T's books, and in the interim, AT&T's new senior management team, led by Bill Schleyer, has instituted cost-cutting measures of its own.
On Feb. 11, 2004 Comcast proposed to buy media and entertainment powerhouse Walt Disney Co., owner of ABC and ESPN television networks, movie studios and theme parks, for about $54 billion in stock. Under the merger, Comcast said it would issue 0.78 of a share of its Class A stock for each Disney share, and Disney shareholders would retain 42 percent of the combined company. The deal values each Disney share at $26.49, a 10 percent premium the closing price. That’s a relatively small premium for a takeover offer, but Comcast may be counting on the fact that other potential suitors in the media industry would surely face tougher regulatory scrutiny in Washington. Most of Comcast’s holdings are in cable TV systems, while Disney’s are in broadcast, cable and “content” businesses like movie studios. In a sign that investors expect an extended fight, Disney’s shares shot up $3.52, or 15 percent to $27.60 in very heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange, above Comcast’s current offer. Comcast’s Class A shares tumbled $2.70, or 8 percent, to $31.23 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Disney and Comcast together had $45 billion in revenues last year. If a deal is reached to combine the companies, they would edge out Time Warner, which had $39.6 billion in revenues last year, atop the heap of media and communications companies.




References
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4239739/

Scanlon and Kramer, Comcast Adds Financing for AT&T Buy-Mergers March 11, 2002
Retrieved 04/10/2008 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DIZ/is_/ai_84147093