Comcast NBCUniversal prevailed over 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney in an auction to acquire Sky, the leading entertainment and communications company in Europe. The offer of £17.28 per Sky shareimplies a value of $40.0 billion (£30.6 billion) for the fully diluted share capital of Sky.
Sky serves 23 million customers in seven countries – U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. Sky has TV ownership rights to English Premier League football for three years starting in 2019. It also holds exclusive partnerships with HBO and Showtime. Sky News is a top European cable news network, and there are additional Sky channels for sports, entertainment, and the arts. In addition, Sky Broadband is a leading (#2) residential broadband provider in the U.K./Ireland, and a new Sky Mobile MVNO was recently launched in Europe. Sky’s 2017 revenue was $18.5 billion.
Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts said: “This is a great day for Comcast. Sky is a wonderful company with a great platform, tremendous brand, and accomplished management team. This acquisition will allow us to quickly, efficiently and meaningfully increase our customer base and expand internationally. We couldn’t be more excited by the opportunities in front of us. We now encourage Sky shareholders to accept our offer, which we look forward to completing before the end of October 2018.”
