Brian Roberts Says Comcast “More Likely Than Not” To Sell Hulu Stake To Disney; Calls Mike Cavanagh, Who Stepped In For Fired Jeff Shell, “Calming Influence”
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The CEO of NBCUniversal parent Comcast said it’s “more likely than not” the company will end up selling its third of Hulu to Disney, after his Mouse counterpart indicated clearly last week that this would be Disney’s preferred outcome. There’s been some grandstanding over the past year as the deadline approaches, but both of Hulu’s parents appear to be on or near the same page now.
“The fact is that Bob Iger, on his earnings call last week, said that they’re now interested in general entertainment, which is no surprise,” Brian Roberts told investors at the MoffettNathanson TMT conference. Earlier this year, Iger was a bit more skeptical on “undifferentiated” general entertainment streaming, versus Disney+ targeted brands.
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Comcast can put its stake to Disney, or Disney can call it in, early next year. The Disney chief said that the two sides have had “cordial” and “constructive” conversations about Hulu.
“I think it’s more likely than not that we go through with what we said all along. That … they’ll put, we’ll call at the beginning of next year,” Roberts said today.
“I think Disney recognized as anybody else would recognize that Hulu is really valuable,” Roberts said. The contractual floor valuation is about $9 billion for the stake. He hopes it will be well north of that.
The question is what “a willing buyer in a robust auction” would pay. “And it’s sort of a hypothetical question,” Roberts said, since there’s never been an asset like this for sale — a platform with more than 50 million domestic streaming subscribers, “all the content from Disney and Fox. And so what’s worth to any buyer, including Disney? We’re including Comcast. We’re including other tech companies, or whomever. And that’s what the job is … to give us one-third of that value. I think we have a very valuable position.”
Roberts also spoke to recent executive turmoil, after the abrupt exit in April of longtime NBC Universal CEO Jeff Shell, and how he sees the key role of Mike Cavanagh at the company. The CFO, promoted to president last year to work closely with Roberts on strategy — and the first at Comcast to hold that title — is overseeing Shell’s direct reports for now.
“You go to a meeting with Mike, you leave the meeting, feeling better than you went into the meeting. That’s not always the case,” said Roberts. “It reminds me a little bit of my dad, he had that calming influence. And when we have seen situations…we’re going through some interesting situations at NBC Universal on the personnel front. Mike is taking the reins, it has calmed everybody.” (He’s talking personality — Cavanagh is younger than the CEO, whose late father Ralph Roberts founded Comcast in 1963.)
He said the exec continues to work on Comcast’s vision and practice across its wide range of assets. “You know, something, I believe strongly in is decentralization. But as we’ve restructured..there’s an opportunity for the right kind of leader to step in and say, ‘How do we get the benefit of all these businesses working together, even more than they have historically, and continue to make great experiences for customers and visitors? Great products, great technology, and that he is helping us drive” that.
The other big departure, NBC Universal ad chief Linda Yaccarino’s move to Elon Musk’s Twitter didn’t come up. She had been slated to present at the company’s upfront presentation yesterday.
Big news from that — Peacock will become the first to exclusively livestream an NFL playoff game on January 13. the wild card matchup will air on NBC and Peacock.
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