Comcast wants to buy Disney for $66 billion

what an insane deal

There might be a weirder twist to this.

Comcast talks about paring down Disney's debt by selling assets.

My girlfriend's job involves transcribing news broadcasts, and apparently someone at Bloomberg and at CNNfn said that they already have a buyer waiting in the wings to pick up the Disney theme parks should this merger go through. They didn't say who it was. (My wild-ass guess would be Paramount; I doubt PKS or FUN can afford it.)

None of their stories on the web mention this either. But she did hear audio clips of it from those two different sources. So file it in the "interesting rumor" pile for now...

In the article below, it says that Gold, while not having talked with Roy Disney, is a huge fan of the Comcast President. Apperantly, he used to work at Disney.

"Stephen Burke is a very able executive. When he left, the company began to fall on bad times," Gold said. "Steve is the kind of guy that Disney ought to be populating all its divisions with."

http://money.cnn.com/2004/02/11/news/companies/comcast_disney/index.htm?cnn=yes*** This post was edited by jpb 2/11/2004 7:45:22 PM ***

Here is a story saying they would keep the parks if they buy Disney.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040211/media_nm/media_disney_parks_dc_1

^I've always thought that if the Disney Parks did get sold off, the only taker would be Universal, or whoever is incharge of them at the time.

"Paramount's Disney/MGM Studios"

Actually, FUN could probably afford the Disney parks if they were to be sold off. Doesn't mean FUN would actually be interested, though. Heck, FUN could afford to buy PKS, but they don't want to...!

A Disney/Comcast merger might make sense for both companies, as was pointed out this evening on Marketplace. But I suspect that Disney's board is probably uncomfortable with the idea of being bought. They would probably prefer to concoct a merger where it appeared to the untrained eye that Disney had bought Comcast instead of the other way around. A little like the PKS/Six Flags deal, or more blatantly, like when AT&T bought NCR.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

As someone else mentioned, the idea that you have your own distribution channels for your own content doesn't mean that it's the best content. How much stuff from Beuna Vista Television on ABC sucks?

What the hell!!?? Comcast?? I wouldn't have even know comcast existed if I didn't visit Detriot. I hope Eisner is a wise man, this decision could/is self destruct the whole disney name. I thought Cox was the biggest cable provider, but they must be sister companies.

Also 66 Billion doesn't seem much for a mega company like Disney. I mean they have park in Japan and Europe. Plus their a mega tv company

A. First off, Disney Inc. will never be bought out, sorry people.

B. Secondly, 66 Billion sounds like a lot, but Disney has been around since the early 50's if not earlier.....and is worth much more than that.

C. "Comcast World" doesn't appeal to me that much.

I would tend to think that, even if Comcast DID acquire the Walt Disney Company, they probably wouldn't change the names of the theme parks (i.e. Comcast World, etc.). They're smart businesspeople, and they understand that acquiring Disney not only provides them a fantastic hold on a multimedia outlet, but also a VERY reputable name, despite it's recent failings. There's no ego that big in the Comcast upper echelon, no brain that small, to think that giving up on the Disney name is the way to improve things. Disney is an empire, and a well-known one at that. It's recognizability is probably half the reason Comcast wishes to acquire it, and they'd be foolish to give it up just because they've gained ownership rights.

EDIT: ClubXJeff-- "1950s at least?" That was when Disneyland opened. Try dating it back to the early 1920s, when the company first gained its roots. It first started becoming successful with the release of Steamboat Willie in November of 1928.

*** This post was edited by Nitro Dave 2/11/2004 11:51:05 PM ***

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...it says that Gold, while not having talked with Roy Disney, is a huge fan of the Comcast President. Apperantly, he used to work at Disney.

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Yes. Comcast president Steve Burke had 12 years with Disney. He was one of the people who got the Disney Stores off the ground and successful. He then went to EuroDisney in late 1992 as President and COO and was very much a part of (maybe the main part of) the restructuring plan that saved the park from going under. He then became President of ABC Broadcasting.

He left in 1998 to become President of Comcast.

Suddenly this makes a lot more sense to me.

IMHO, who cares if Comcast buys Disney? There's a huge intangible that comes with the Disney name. The last thing that any buyer wants to do is tarnish that reputation. Honestly, do you think the family of four is going to give a second thought about heading down to Orlando if Disney is owned by a large cable company? They'd be foolish to toy around with the Disney mystique.

Now that Gonchar shares some history, it doesn't seem quite as weird. Huh.

And I wouldn't worry about anyone messing with names. No one would be stupid enough to mess with Disney as a brand, arguably one of the most recognizable on the planet. Universal didn't become "GE/NBC Universal Studios" or anything, and that's a lesser known brand by comparison.

There was a story in my local paper today with Steve Burke saying "Job one is restoring Disney to it's previous level of profitability" and that they "could greatly improve the performance of several of disney's ke businesses, including ABC,the ABC family channel, anamation and Theme parks."

the full story is here:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/24-02112004-244784.html

FNC is covering this now.