Cable giant Comcast makes surprise offer to buy Disney

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Cable television giant Comcast Corp. made a surprise bid Wednesday to buy The Walt Disney Co. for more than $54 billion, a deal that would take advantage of Disney's growing vulnerability to create the world's biggest media conglomerate.

Disney's board released a statement saying it would "carefully evaluate" Comcast's unsolicited offer.

If approved, the deal would drastically alter the nation's media landscape by bringing together two companies that have enormous interests in the film, television and cable TV industries.

Comcast is the nation's largest cable company with 21 million subscribers, and has a stake in several cable networks, while Disney owns the ABC and ESPN television networks, movie studios and theme parks.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the combination "would create one of the world's premier entertainment and communications companies, and, we believe, restore the Disney brand to prominence and the company to growth."

A Disney-Comcast combination would eclipse Time Warner as the world's biggest media company.

The offer comes at a vulnerable time for Disney. The boardroom has been in turmoil over Disney chief Michael Eisner's leadership and the collapse of talks to extend the company's lucrative deal with Pixar Animation Studios, which created such blockbuster hits as "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo." Disney is also suffering from lagging performances at key businesses such as ABC.

End of Eisner?

The deal could mean the end of the 20-year career of Eisner, who is fending off criticism from former board members Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Disney founder Walt Disney, and Stanley E. Gold about his performance and lack of a succession plan.

Comcast said Eisner declined earlier this week to discuss a possible merger.

The bid was initially valued at $54 billion, but investors bid up the price of Disney stock beyond the Comcast offer -- a signal that Comcast would have to sweeten its offer.

Comcast made the announcement just as Disney was to start two days of meetings with analysts at its flagship Walt Disney World theme park and hours before Disney was to announce strong first-quarter earnings.

As if to answer the bid, Disney released its first-quarter earnings hours sooner than originally planned.

The earnings showed the company was firmly on a turnaround that would see 30 percent earnings growth this year.