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Friday, May 29, 2009

Would Comcast buy Time Warner?

Now that TimeWarner has spun off AmericaOnline and Time Warner Cable, WSJ's Deal Journal blog offers this "most attractive option" for Jeff Bewkes, who runs Time Warner's remaining, slow-growing video programming businesses (HBO, Turner Broadcasting, Warner Bros.):  

"Sell the company to the likes of, say, Comcast, or News Corp... or perhaps DirecTV Group. Instead of trying to reinvent Time Warner, whose conglomerate structure he once derided as bull----, he could go down as the man who finally solved the company’s growth riddle once and for all."

Raises questions for us deal-watchers here in the shadow of Comcast Center:

Could Comcast's Brian Roberts (backed by his good friend Eric Schmidt at Google) succeed in building a high-growth cable-Internet-programming conglomerate where ex-TimeWarner boss Richard Parsons couldn't? 

Would Comcast risk annoying investors by spending the cash it's been building up on a big deal like TimeWarner? 

And does this make more sense than the One Big Cable Company (Comcast plus TimeWarner Cable) that we speculated about yesterday? 

For more AOL-TW speculation - check Nielsen on deal buzz here. Thanks Dave Ralis --
Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 10:47 AM  Permalink | 2 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:57 AM, 05/29/2009
    Brian Roberts and his dad make too much money now. They don't need to make their company bigger.
    — republicrat
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:34 PM, 05/29/2009
    Deal baby Deal! Make a judicious acquisition during economic chaos while prices are depressed. Sounds good, especially considering the upside when the recovery kicks in. Any undervalued asset and that includes just about most businesses in all sectors would have divisions that could be sold at a premium to recoup cash and pay down debt when the time is right. Comcast needs more content to distinguish it self as more than just a optic line manager. What will be the killer model for a digital cash cow? There will be a lot beyond local local local.
    — Fernando08


2 comments
About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joe has been a member of Bloomberg LP’s New York Finance Team, wrote the book “Comcasted,” taught writing at St. Joseph’s University, and studied economics and history at Penn. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com
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