Comcast Co-CEO Says ‘The Bar Is Very High’ for M&A Deals but ‘Expect Us to Look at Things’

Comcast leaders hedged their words carefully when pressed by Wall Street analysts about the company’s appetite for M&A activity amid the swirl of interest around Warner Bros. Discovery.

Mike Cavanagh, Comcast co-CEO, told analysts during Comcast’s third quarter earnings call Thursday morning that “the bar is high” for the company to consider a major merger of acquisition. But he didn’t rule anything out. He also indicated that Comcast’s ability to secure federal approval for any transaction would improve once the spinoff of its linear cable channels (other than Bravo) is completed later this year.

“The bar is very high for us to pursue any M&A transactions given how strongly we feel about the businesses we have, the strategies we’re pursuing and the opportunities we have ahead of us, so that continues to be an important anchor point for how we think about things,” Cavanagh said. “You should expect us to look at things that are trading in our in the space around our industry. It’s our job to try to figure out if there’s ways to add value.”

Cavanagh was pressed on how much the political situation in Washington, D.C. with President Donald Trump and his open hostility to Comcast is hampering the company in a significant way.

“The strategies we have are really sound and durable without M&A. That said the question about what’s feasible to get any deals through, obviously the fact that we’ve been taking the path of setting up as our cable network business to pursue strategies that didn’t fit inside the sort of the new NBC media business with great strength and assets and the cash flows there have with light leverage, and that is on track to happen,” Cavanagh said. “In light of that, what we’d be looking for and what we’re going to look like post-Versant spin, I think more things are viable than maybe some of the public commentary that’s out there.”

More to come