This week in Philly Tech History 2004: Comcast makes surprise $66 billion bid for Disney
Tom Paine
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On February 11, 2004, Comcast launched a surprise, unsolicited $66 billion bid (including debt) for Walt Disney Corp., coming in a period in which Disney CEO Michael Eisner was under mounting criticism for his management of the fabled company. Many observers felt that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts' primary motivation was to get control of Disney's ESPN, which was becoming an increasingly important but costly source of programming for cable operators (a trend that has continued up to this day).
Comcast dropped its bid in late April after the value of Comcast's shares (and thus the value of its bid) fell in the interim and Disney's board declined to respond to the offer. In the mean time, though, Disney removed Eisner from the Chairman's post.
Comcast finally got its multimedia giant a few years later on January 29, 2011, when it completed its $30 billion merger with GE's NBCU.
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