CFO: Comcast Won't Seek Acquisitions After Megadeals

Comcast Corp. isn’t looking for mergers or acquisitions to bolster its media arm despite recent deals by competitors for WarnerMedia and MGM Studios, CFO Mike Cavanagh said Wednesday.

Speaking at an investors conference hosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Wednesday, Cavanagh decried scaling up in media, saying that Comcast likes its current portfolio of properties — headlined by NBC and Sky — and that the company will grow by investing in those existing brands, according to The Philadelphia Business Journal.

“Hear me loud and clear: We like the hand we have, and M&A is not an answer,” he said. “We like the hand we have without M&A, but we’ll obviously do what’s right for shareholders as time passes."

Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh said the company won't seek out mergers and acquisitions to grow its media arm.

Cavanagh’s comments all but squash speculation that the Philadelphia-based media giant could swoop in and try and make a last-minute bid for WarnerMedia or MGM.

Mike Cavanagh

Comcast reportedly had interest in both properties before competitors Discovery and Amazon reached massive deals to acquire them. AT&T said last week that it will spin off WarnerMedia in a $43 billion deal to merge the business unit with Discovery and form a new media company, and Amazon announced Wednesday that it will buy MGM for $8.45 billion.

The Discovery-WarnerMedia merger will bring brands like CNN, Warner Bros., HBO, the Food Network and the Discovery Channel under the same umbrella, putting the new company among the ranks of streaming giants Netflix and Disney. Amazon's deal for MGM gives the e-commerce behemoth access to classic franchises like James Bond and Rocky as it tries to grow its slate of streaming content.

Comcast’s talent roster in original content creation, paired with its existing library of content and advertising, puts the company at an advantage, Cavanagh said. The company will consider mergers and acquisitions in the future, he said, but it has to look at price, strategy, and its ability to execute that strategy before doing so.

Comcast can invest in more content itself or partner with other companies to help grow its Peacock streaming service, he said. Peacock has had 42 million users sign up for the service since its launch in April 2020, the company said during its latest earnings call. That’s compared 44.2 million subscribers for HBO Max and more than 100 million subscribers globally for Disney+.