The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, will most likely not be able to acquire the American television channel MSNBC, owned by the telecommunications giant Comcast, since the parent company will not sell it separately from other assets, writes the Wall Street Journal.
Author:
https://rb.ru/author/mihail-zelenin/
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Last week, Comcast announced plans to spin off several cable channels, including MSNBC, CNBC, E!, Golf Channel and USA, into a separate company. The management of the holding company announced to shareholders that it hopes that the new independent company will be able to show good financial and rating results in the context of the decline in the popularity of cable television and the massive proliferation of streaming platforms.
Comcast’s plan actually means the holding company’s refusal to continue developing traditional television, according to experts interviewed by NBC. The corporation will only have the NBCUniversal network, Telemundo and the Peacock streaming service.
On Friday, November 22, Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., posted on social network . In response to the tweet, Musk posted just one sentence: “How much does it cost?” X users soon noticed similar rhetoric from the billionaire in 2018 ahead of his Twitter purchase in 2022.
Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Comcast has no plans to sell the spinoff assets separately. The new business will belong to the current shareholders of the corporation and negotiations with the market will be carried out solely in relation to the distribution of content produced by the new company.
Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts will receive one-third of the new company’s voting shares, meaning sales decisions will likely go through him, the newspaper notes.
These presentations differ significantly from the situation with Twitter, since at the time of the purchase of the social network for 44 billion dollars, Musk was already its largest shareholder. WSJ stock market sources noted that spinning off MSNBC as a new company would be difficult because the tax-free spinoff deal does not allow flexibility in trading individual assets.
Additionally, Musk may not be the only big businessman interested in buying MSNBC. According to CNN sources, some billionaires from the liberal camp of American politics do not like Musk’s conservative views: if negotiations on the sale of the channel begin, they will be willing to offer Comcast an alternative agreement.
MSNBC launched in 1996 and was considered a pro-democracy media outlet in the early 2000s. The channel features hosts such as Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Jen Psaki, and Joe Scarborough.
Author:
Mikhail Zelenin
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
