Comcast to split into two public companies spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky
Comcast $CMCSA will split into two public companies, spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky, its theme parks and TV networks, from the Xfinity broadband and wireless business. The move walls off a shrinking cable-TV operation from the connectivity unit investors still pay for. Shares
Comcast $CMCSA said on Monday it will split into two separate public companies, spinning off NBCUniversal and its European Sky business into a standalone media company while keeping its Xfinity broadband, wireless and Comcast Business operations under the Comcast name. The new media company would house the Universal theme parks and the NBC and Sky networks, with Mike Cavanagh as chief executive, while longtime Comcast executive Michael Angelakis would lead the connectivity-focused Comcast. The tax-free spinoff is expected to close in about 12 months, and Comcast plans to keep a 19.9% stake in the new entity. The split is the clearest sign yet of how cord-cutting and streaming have reshaped the old cable-and-content conglomerate. Comcast combined distribution and programming when it bought NBCUniversal in 2011, betting that owning both the pipes and the shows was an advantage. Years of subscriber losses in traditional pay-TV have inverted that logic. Investors now value the steady cash flows of broadband and wireless very differently from a shrinking television business, and separating the two lets each pursue its own strategy and attract its own shareholders. The move also comes just six months after Comcast spun off its cable channels into a company called Versant. Comcast shares jumped about 21% in premarket trading on the news.