What happened
Shares of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (FOX) (FOXA) jumped as much as 7.3% in trading Friday after news broke that Comcast (CMCSA -5.82%) is interested in buying some of the company's assets.
So what
Reports have surfaced that Disney (DIS -1.01%) has been interested in buying Twenty-First Century Fox's TV and movie studios and international businesses. The latter company would keep the Fox network and Fox News, plus some related networks focusing on news and sports.
Image source: Getty Images.
The Disney deal was reportedly falling apart, but if Comcast is interested and there are multiple bids for the assets, there could be a bidding war.
Now what
There's no guarantee a deal will get done, but the fact that there are two potential buyers could be good for Twenty-First Century Fox. Media companies today are under pressure to build enough scale to compete with new media companies like Netflix and HBO's streaming service (HBO is a subsidiary of Time Warner). Consolidation within the industry and with adjacent players like telecom companies will likely continue, and Twenty-First Century Fox seems like an interested seller. That could lead to a nice profit for investors if a deal materializes.
