Comcast said to plan $60B cash deal to beat Disney for Fox assets

Elizabeth Weise | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Report: Comcast preparing all-cash offer to upset Disney-Fox deal Comcast is speaking to investment banks about obtaining bridge financing for an all-cash bid to displace Walt Disney on its $52 billion deal to acquire most of Twenty-First Century Fox's assets, three people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Video provided by Reuters

A major battle of media titans is brewing with reports that Comcast may be working up a deal to push Disney out of the running to buy 21st Century Fox assets.

Comcast is in talks with investment banks to set up an all-cash bid of up to $60 billion for 21st Century Fox film and TV businesses, CNBC reported Tuesday. Bloomberg and Reuters late Monday reported that Comcast was planning a bid.

This comes after Walt Disney Co. agreed in December to pay $52.4 billion for units including the historic 20th Century Fox movie studio and Fox's television studio.

Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch had spurned an offer from Comcast at the time, even though it was 16% higher on a per share basis, because it didn’t offer a breakup fee should regulators nix the deal.

Now Comcast, which owns NBC and Universal Pictures, is coming back with another attempt. This comes after Comcast offered $31 billion to get a 61% stake in Europe’s pay-TV group Sky PLC. Fox owns most of the rest.

Comcast was waiting to see the outcome of a Department of Justice challenge to AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner before it puts its bid forward. If the AT&T-Time Warner merger is not approved, Comcast does not plan to bid, persons familiar with the matter told CNBC.

Analyst Richard Greenfield with BTIG Research said Comcast can make the math work on an all-cash deal and that the synergies are greater for Comcast/Fox/Sky than Disney/Fox/Sky due to distribution overlaps.

The news comes as both Disney and Fox are preparing to release quarterly earnings reports this week.

Fox (FOX) shares were up 2% to $38.17 in early trading Tuesday on the news. Comcast (CMSCA) shares were down about 4% to $31.15 on the reports: Disney (DIS) shares fell about 1% to $101.62.

Contributing: Mike Snider