Last year, Comcast spun off a bunch of its cable properties into Versant, giving up brands like MSNBC (renamed to MS NOW) and Oxygen to focus on NBC, Bravo, and Peacock. Well, now Comcast doesn’t want those, either. CNN reports this morning that Comcast plans to spin off what’s left of NBCUniversal, effectively leaving Comcast as just a broadband and wireless company.
The move would see NBC, Bravo, Peacock, Telemundo, and Universal (both the studio and the theme parks) and the European media company Sky become its own publicly-traded company. Of course, this needs regulatory approval and the process for breaking up the company is expected to take about a year. Mike Cavanagh, who currently serves as co-CEO of Comcast, will become the CEO of NBCUniversal, and former CFO Michael Angelakis will become the CEO of Comcast. The announcement saw the stock of Comcast jump about 10%, which is something that has hardly happened for the company in the past 13 years.
As of now, it’s not especially clear whether NBCUniversal could end up being a target for another acquisition. CNN speculates that a buyer with deep pockets might want the company, while The New York Times suggests that NBCU could wind up reuniting with Versant. NBC and NBCUniversal have changed hands a number of times, with the company’s sale from General Electric to Comcast some 15 years ago playing out as a plotline on 30 Rock. Someone tell Jack Donaghy that the reign of Kabletown has finally come to an end.
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