Comcast said Wednesday it is in “advanced stages of preparing” an all-cash offer for the parts of Twenty-First Century Fox that Rupert Murdoch’s company has agreed to sell to Walt Disney.
The terms of the bid would be at least as favorable to Fox shareholders as Disney’s offer, Comcast said in a release. No final decision has been made.
However, Comcast said efforts to finance the bid and submit key regulatory filings “is well advanced.”
Shares of Comcast fell 1.5 percent in premarket trading Wednesday. Disney shares declined more than half a percent, while Fox shares climbed more than 1 percent.
Earlier in May, CNBC reported, citing sources, that Comcast was preparing to make a bid for the assets in mid-June. The news followed a CNBC article that week saying Comcast was preparing an all-cash bid of $60 billion that would beat Disney’s deal, if the government approves AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner.
The Fox assets under consideration do not include the Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Company and certain other components.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com.
