AP
- 21st Century Fox is rising on news that Comcast is looking to outbid Disney for the acquisition of its assets.
- Comcast previously made an offer to 21st Century Fox but the deal fell through due to concerns that regulators would not approve the merger.
- Watch 21st Century Fox trade in real-time here.
21st Century Fox is rising nearly 2% Tuesday after Reuters reported Comcast is looking to outbid Disney to acquire most of Fox's assets. Comcast is said to be speaking to investment banks about financing an all-cash bid to overtake Disney's $52 billion deal wth 21st Century Fox.
Comcast previously made a $30 billion offer to acquire a roughly 61% stake in Sky, a pan-European media company known for broadcasting live soccer matches and premium content like HBO. It currently awaits a June 15 verdict from the European Commission on the acquisition.
21st Century Fox owns the remaining 39% of Sky, and has been unable to take over the media company entirely due to regulatory hurdles. Comcast is hoping investment banks will help raise as much as $60 billion for the company to make a deal to acquire 21st Century Fox assets on top of the Sky bid.
Comcast, which previously made an offer to 21st Century Fox that fell through due to antitrust concerns, said it will only make a formal bid for 21st Century Fox if the AT&T and Time Warner deal goes through. AT&T and Time Warner await a ruling next month on the US Department of Justice's challenge to AT&T's planned acquisition of the media conglomerate. The Department of Justice challenged the merger on antitrust concerns, believing the combined company could reduce competition and hurt consumers.
If the AT&T-Time Warner merger is approved, Comcast will likely feel emboldened to make its bid for 21st Century Fox, seeing the chances of merger approval will tilt more in its favor.
21st Century Fox is up more than 8% this year.