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Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, attends the annual Allen & Co. Media and Expertise Convention in Solar Valley, Idaho, July 9, 2025.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Comcast clued traders in to its potential M&A aspirations on Thursday. Briefly, executives assume a deal may get completed, regardless of latest naysaying.
Comcast is among the many events in a possible deal for Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD — the proprietor of TNT Sports activities, CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. studio and different media property — formally put itself up on the market after “receiving curiosity from a number of events,” WBD CEO David Zaslav stated in a press release final week.
A number of pundits and analysts have posited that Comcast has little to no probability to do a deal from a regulatory perspective, given President Donald Trump’s pointed phrases for Comcast CEO and controlling shareholder Brian Roberts. Others say the trail ahead might not be doomed.
On Thursday, alongside the corporate’s third-quarter earnings report, soon-to-be co-CEO Mike Cavanagh shed some mild on how executives view the scenario, with out particularly naming Warner Bros. Discovery as a possible tie-up.
“I feel extra issues are viable than perhaps among the public commentary that is on the market,” Cavanagh stated Thursday.
Trump in April known as Comcast and Roberts “a shame to the integrity of Broadcasting” in a publish on his social media platform, Reality Social. Trump has additionally known as Roberts a “lowlife” and has referred to Comcast as “Concast.”
Some fairness analysis analysts have predicted that the Trump administration would block a Comcast acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD remains to be shifting towards a deliberate separation into two publicly traded entities whereas it expands its strategic assessment.
Paramount is making an attempt to purchase the entire firm, earlier than it may cut up, and WBD has to this point rejected three separate provides from the David Ellison-run firm.
“It’s nearly sure that the Trump DOJ wouldn’t enable CMSCA to purchase WBD and the end result can be determined in court docket,” New Road Analysis analyst Blair Levin wrote in a notice to shoppers, citing Trump’s public feedback about Roberts.
“We together with our cable colleagues consider [Comcast’s] political standing on this administration could be very low and consider CMCSA would assume lengthy and onerous about whether or not a deal is well worth the lengthy, arduous course of of making sufficient goodwill to shut the deal,” wrote Raymond James analyst Ric Prentiss.
Structuring a spin-merge
Cavanagh reminded traders Thursday that simply because the corporate takes a have a look at property which might be up on the market within the media trade, it does not essentially imply a deal, and even a proposal, may materialize.
“I feel we have stated repeatedly, and I will say it once more, that the bar could be very excessive for us to pursue any M&A transactions, given how strongly we really feel concerning the companies we’ve got, the methods we’re pursuing and the alternatives we’ve got forward of us,” Cavanagh instructed traders.
Comcast’s NBCUniversal is within the technique of spinning off its portfolio of cable networks, together with CNBC, into a brand new entity known as Versant.
Assuming a proposal for WBD or different media property have been to come back collectively, it must make strategic sense for the long run NBCUniversal, which can be led by the printed TV community NBC and streaming service Peacock.
A lot of NBCUniversal’s strikes to this point have been to spice up Peacock’s place within the streaming ecosystem. The corporate reported Thursday that Peacock had 41 million prospects as of the tip of final month, a subscriber base that has remained flat all year long.
Cavanagh famous the corporate can be in search of media property that complement its post-spin NBCUniversal enterprise.
“So on this case, it might be streaming property and studio property, since there aren’t any different parks property on the market,” he stated.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s deliberate cut up would separate out precisely these companies: streaming and studios in a single firm, which might additionally home streamer HBO Max, and its world networks into one other.
Whereas Paramount’s curiosity is within the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery, negating a cut up, different potential bidders have thought of buying simply among the property, CNBC has reported.
Cavanagh stated, “In mild of that, what we might be in search of and what we will appear like post-Versant spin,” a deal is not as far-fetched as some view it.
In a hypothetical scenario by which Comcast have been to additionally spin off NBCUniversal, which is presently slated to stay with the corporate following the Versant transaction, and merge it with WBD, LightShed analyst Wealthy Greenfield predicted that deal may get by means of regulators.
Wolfe Analysis’s Peter Supino proposed a plan beneath which NBCUniversal would problem new inventory to WBD at an alternate ratio, eliminating Roberts’ voting management over the brand new firm, and appoint a md and CEO “not named Roberts.” That mixture may result in a deal, he wrote in a notice to shoppers.
“The first issues dealing with a Comcast bid — financing and politics — could be solvable,” Supino wrote.
Whereas Comcast could draw back from pursuing a transaction that could possibly be blocked by the Trump DOJ, even that might not be a dealbreaker.
Within the first Trump time period, his DOJ blocked AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, an earlier iteration of Warner Bros. Discovery. In June 2018, a U.S. District Court docket choose accredited the $85.4 billion sale, ruling the federal government did not show the deal would hurt customers.
If it pleases the president
Some Comcast executives assume the regulatory issues are both overblown or, at the least, far too early to determine, based on individuals conversant in the matter, who’ve information of Comcast’s technique however spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate inside considering. There’s some proof suggesting Comcast’s executives could have a degree.
A Comcast spokesperson declined to remark for this text.
Skydance Media acquired long-awaited Federal Communications Fee approval for its merger with Paramount after the CBS guardian agreed to a $16 million settlement with Trump over a “60 Minutes” episode.
Whereas a deal for WBD will not require FCC assessment, as a result of Warner Bros. Discovery does not personal a broadcaster, a takeover of this dimension — WBD’s market capitalization is about $53 billion plus one other $30 billion in debt — may nonetheless draw the scrutiny of Trump’s Division of Justice.
Trump’s popularity as a dealmaker suggests Comcast might be able to keep away from any interference by endearing itself to the president.
Comcast is certainly one of 37 corporations donating to Trump’s efforts to construct a $300 million ballroom for the White Home by means of the Belief for the Nationwide Mall.
Trump’s public dislike towards Roberts and Comcast could also be bloviation linked to Trump’s assertions that MSNBC, presently owned by NBCUniversal, is left-leaning. It is unclear if Trump explicitly cares about Comcast or NBCUniversal proudly owning any of the WBD property aside from CNN, which Trump has additionally routinely criticized.
If his main problem with Comcast shopping for WBD is CNN, a divestiture or deal with out the community may circumvent these points. MSNBC will even be spun out into the Versant portfolio.
Whereas Roberts will nonetheless be a shareholder of Versant, MSNBC will not be part of Comcast as soon as Versant turns into its personal publicly traded firm firstly of 2026.
Disclosure: Comcast is the guardian firm of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would grow to be the brand new guardian firm of CNBC upon Comcast’s deliberate spinoff of Versant.
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