A
Wall Street Journal
analysis
said the failure of the proposed $45.2 billion merger of Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. “has become the biggest black mark” on the record of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, “surpassing Comcast’s ill-fated $48.7 billion takeover attempt of Walt Disney Co. in 2004.”
The
Journal
article said that following the deal’s collapse, “the biggest question is whether Mr. Roberts will try to play deal maker again.”
The analysis noted: “Not only did Comcast stumble in judging the regulatory reaction” to the proposed Time Warner takeover, “the audaciousness of the bid rallied opponents of big media and played a key role in the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to impose tough regulations on the Internet.” It added, “The company was also made out to be the poster child for bad customer relations during its pursuit of Time Warner Cable.”
Brian Roberts, the son of Comcast founder Ralph Roberts, started at the company installing cable. “None of these big fumbles fit with the image Mr. Roberts works so hard to project — that Comcast is a humble company with family roots and strong values,” the
Journal
article said.
The report said that analysts are speculating that Comcast might wait a while before attempting another acquisition. But Rich Greenfield, a media analyst at BTIG, told the
Journal
, “I always like to call them the insatiable Roberts family. They’ve got to do something.” (Source:
Wall Street Journal
, April 24, 2015.)
-
1621 reads