Comcast and Fox announced Tuesday that they closed a deal for Comcast to acquire Fox’s 39.1% stake in Sky. With this deal, Comcast now owns more than 75% of the European pay-TV giant. The company is currently being delisted from the London Stock Exchange, that will be completed on November 7th.
Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts released the following statement regarding the deal: “We are pleased today to be the majority owner of Sky. Led by Jeremy Darroch (Sky CEO) and his superb team – now together with Comcast – our combined global leadership in technology and content paves the way for us to accelerate investment and growth in Sky’s brand and premier platforms.”
Jeremy Darroch, as well as the rest of the Sky board, sold their Sky shares in the deal. Darroch released a statement of his own following the announcement of the deal. “Comcast [has] committed to investment in Sky, including our Osterley and European headquarters. We very much look forward to working with Brian and the Comcast team to achieve further growth and development of Sky’s business.”
Comcast took control of SKy with a $39 million offer earlier this year. They beat out Fox in a blind bidding war for the company, which has a share in markets all across Europe.
