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Wednesday,
February 11th,
2004
BUSINESS
NEWS —
Disney says its board
of directors will look at a takeover offer from Comcast.
The cable television
giant is offering to buy The Walt Disney Company in a
stock-and-debt deal valued at about 66 billion dollars.
In a short statement, Disney said its board will
"carefully evaluate" the proposal, which represents a nearly ten
percent premium to Disney shareholders.
Comcast indicates that embattled Disney CEO
Michael Eisner himself had rejected the offer when it came
directly from Comcast chief Brian Roberts.
The offer includes 54 billion dollars in stock
and nearly 12 billion in debt assumption.
During a conference call, Comcast's Steve Burke
told investors that Comcast believed it could greatly improve the
performance of several of Disney's key businesses, including the
ABC television network.
NOTE:
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of KABC-TV.
