Comcast said Monday it will split into two publicly traded companies, spinning off NBCUniversal and the European broadcaster Sky into a standalone media business and leaving its broadband, wireless and cable operations under the Comcast name. Shares jumped as much as 26 percent in premarket trading before settling about 23 percent higher, with CBS News pegging the early move at $4.85, or 21 percent, to $28.02.
The tax-free transaction, expected to close in about a year, follows Comcast's earlier spinoff of its smaller cable networks, announced in November 2024 and completed earlier this year. Comcast shares have fallen 30 percent over the past 12 months amid an industry shift away from the TV bundle and toward streaming.
What splits
The new NBCUniversal will hold the Universal theme parks, the Universal film and television studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, Peacock, Bravo and Sky, the British pay-TV operator Comcast bought in 2018. The remaining Comcast will keep Xfinity, Xfinity Wireless and Comcast Business. Comcast intends to retain a stake of up to 19.9 percent in NBCUniversal for up to a year after the split and to monetize it over time, the company said.
Who runs what
Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh will run NBCUniversal. Michael Angelakis, a former Comcast chief financial officer, will return to lead the slimmed-down Comcast, serving as a strategic adviser in the interim. Chairman and co-CEO Brian L. Roberts will stay actively involved at both companies.
"The transaction we are announcing will unlock a more entrepreneurial management approach and open up a multitude of new opportunities for each business," Roberts said in the company's statement. Cavanagh added that NBCUniversal, paired with Sky, would have "the scale, brands, content and financial resources to compete as a premier global media and entertainment company."
Industry context
The split lands in a media sector reshaping itself. Paramount Skydance won Justice Department approval earlier this month for its $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox struck a $22 billion deal for Roku. Comcast's earlier spinoff carved out cable networks including CNBC and MS Now into a separate public company called Versant Media.
NBC News, which is owned by Comcast and will move to the new NBCUniversal, covered the announcement; its report carried the same executive quotes and financial terms as CNBC's, whose parent Versant disclosed the corporate relationship in a footnote. The CBS News account, drawing on the Associated Press, framed the deal in the same terms.
The transaction will require board and regulatory approvals, Comcast said, and the company set no firm closing date beyond about 12 months.