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Comcast Splits, OpenAI Weighs IPO Delay, and Buttigieg Targeted
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Comcast Splits Off NBCUniversal and Sky: Breaking Down the Spinoff
At 15:50 · chapter starts 7:00
Kara Swisher breaks the news: Comcast is spinning off NBC, Universal Film Studio, theme parks, and Sky into a new publicly traded entity, keeping Xfinity broadband and wireless while retaining a roughly 20% stake in the new entity. Shares jumped 21% in pre-market trading, and the deal is expected to close in about a year. [1] — Kara Swisher "Comcast shares up 21% on spinoff news: Comcast's stock jumped 21% in pre-market trading Monday after announcing the NBCUniversal and Sky sp…" 08:40 Scott Galloway uses the moment to deliver a compact master class in conglomerate theory: CEO compensation surveys (he cites Towers Perrin) create incentives for relentless empire-building, but markets eventually punish diversified companies by assigning the weakest unit's valuation multiple to the whole enterprise — what Scott colorfully calls a 'turducken.' [2] — Scott Galloway "The market has a tendency to do is it looks at the shittiest business 'cause it says there's no synergy here... we're gonna assign that mul…" 10:20 The numbers make the case starkly: last quarter, media revenue grew 40% to nearly $12 billion, theme parks grew 24%, media 61%, studios 21% — while residential connectivity shrank 4%. [3] — Scott Galloway "Comcast media revenue up 40%: Comcast's media division reported a 40% increase in revenue to nearly $12 billion in a single quarter, while …" 11:46 The spinoff creates two pure plays: a cash-generating mature connectivity business and a high-multiple growth business, boosting the combined stock roughly 25%. Scott then pivots to a surprise prediction: Snap, whose stock is down 93% over five years, could triple or quadruple if it spun off its Spectacles unit — Meta gets $400 in market cap per user; Snap gets $17. [4] — Scott Galloway "Snap stock down 93% in 5 years: Snap's stock is down 93% over the last five years despite having 500 million daily users — Scott argues spi…" 16:22 The segment closes with both hosts praising Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his team as the most underrated management group in media, lamenting that they were locked out of the Warner Bros. Discovery deal but now have a cleaner path to M&A.
Comcast's stock jumped 21% in pre-market trading Monday after announcing the NBCUniversal and Sky spinoff.
Markets assign a company's lowest valuation multiple to its best businesses when they're bundled with bad ones. Comcast's media business grew 40% while connectivity shrank 3% — holding them together was destroying value, so the spinoff unlocks a pure-play growth story.
Comcast's media division reported a 40% increase in revenue to nearly $12 billion in a single quarter, while the connectivity division shrank 3%.
NBCUniversal's theme parks grew 24%, media grew 61%, and studios grew 21% in the same quarter connectivity declined.
Meta commands $400 in market cap per user. Snap gets $17 — for a 500-million-daily-user network with the most advertiser-coveted demographic on earth. The Spectacles unit is the weeping sore dragging the entire valuation down 93% over five years.
Meta commands approximately $400 in market cap per user while Snap gets only $17, illustrating the massive valuation gap.
