The Comcast Co-CEO and designated chief exec of the media entity spinning off from the cable and broadband side of the house conveyed his sentiments in a memo to staffers (read it in full below). He also plans to convene a town hall for employees.
“Once this transaction is complete, our portfolio will be focused, purposeful and strong,” Cavanagh wrote in the memo. “The Versant spin enabled NBCUniversal to create a more integrated company, fueled by our world-class content, technology, IP and talent. Our businesses fit well together and are set up for success. Going forward, we will control our own destiny, play offense and move with urgency. We will lean into creativity, and we will generate content that delights and informs people around the world.”
Comcast startled the industry and Wall Street with the split news early Monday, which comes just a few months after NBCU’s cable networks were spun off into a new company, Versant Media. Long-stagnant shares of Comcast jumped after the announcement, mainly due to speculation that the newly configured holdings will be better equipped for M&A deals. Last year, Comast made an unsuccessful bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before Paramount eventually sealed a deal to buy it and also unveiled a $34.5 billion merger with cable rival Cox.
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Smaller-scale players in media content like Lionsgate are widely considered to be acquisition targets. Comcast, which has pay-TV and streaming challenges, has also been the subject of frequent deal chatter despite bucking the odds with a strong 15-year run as a home for both distribution and content. That expectation will only grow in the coming months as Paramount looks to close the WBD deal and leapfrog Comcast to join Disney as a top-tier media player doing battle with Netflix and other tech giants.
During a 20-minute investor call, Cavanagh and Co-CEO Brian Roberts sought to downplay the notion that they engineered the split in order to pave the way for M&A.
NBCUniversal and Sky Colleagues:
This is a very exciting day for the new NBCUniversal. Earlier today, we announced plans to separate Comcast into two independent publicly traded companies through a tax-free spin-off of NBCUniversal and Sky. NBCUniversal will becomean independent, pure-play media and entertainment company, with additional global scale and world-class assets in theme parks, film, television, streaming, sports and news. We have assembled a unique company built for growth. We welcome our colleagues from Sky to the team.
We made this decision because of our strong conviction that each company will be better positioned to pursue its own strategic priorities, invest for growth and create long-term shareholder value as independent entities in an environment where technological innovation, consumer behavior and competitive dynamics continue to reshape our industry.
Once this transaction is complete, our portfolio will be focused, purposeful and strong. The Versant spin enabled NBCUniversal to create a more integrated company, fueled by our world- class content, technology, IP and talent. Our businesses fit well together and are set up for success. Going forward, we will control our own destiny, play offense and move with urgency. We will lean into creativity, and we will generate content that delights and informs people around the world. And we will do so with the most experienced, cohesive and ambitious management team in the business, which is further strengthened by the addition of Dana Strong, who leads Sky.
Following the transaction, our financial profile will position us well to execute and build. With a strong balance sheet and a public company stock, we will have the resources and flexibility to pursue the growth opportunities we believe in most. We will be better positioned to grow than we have ever been before.
I am thrilled to continue leading the new NBCUniversal alongside Brian, who has been my partner and friend for over a decade. Nobody is better at building businesses and creating culture than Brian, and I am confident that the entrepreneurial approach that he and our management team plan to take will open up meaningful new opportunities.
But as enviable as our asset base and financial profile are, what gives me the greatest confidence in our future is our vision for how we are going to run the business.
1. We are at the center of culture and more relevant than ever.
NBCUniversal is more culturally relevant today than we have ever been. When people gather to watch a major sporting event, buy tickets to a movie, learn the results of an election—whether for president or prime minister—or treat a Peacock unscripted series like appointment television, they are doing those things with us. Just think about how people interact with us every day. Maybe it is watching The Odyssey, Disclosure Day, Minions & Monsters, How to Train Your Dragon or Obsession in a theater. Maybe it is catching up on the most important news stories from TODAY, NBC Nightly News or Meet the Press, or tuning in for a true crime fix from Dateline. It could be watching the World Cup on Telemundo and Peacock or the Olympics on NBC, or the Premier League or F1 on Sky. Maybe it is Thanksgiving, with the parade and a football game on NBC. Or SNL, live from New York—and now London!—or a Chicago show and Love Island with friends on Peacock. Or catching up with The Real Housewives on Bravo. Or a week in Orlando at Epic Universe, the best theme park in the world. It is this connection to our audiences across every touchpoint that underlies our strength and our future.
2. We will lean into our position as the most sought-after home for creators and collaborators.
The most successful companies will always be those that excel at producing and presenting relevant live content and experiences, as well as those that partner best with talent, provide the best home for IPand collaborate most seamlessly within their own walls. These qualities are in our DNA, and we will double down on them. We are already the partner of choice for talent in this industry, and I am committed to strengthening that position. People like Chris Meledandri, Jason Blum, Lorne Michaels and Dick Wolf can work anywhere, and they choose us. They do so because we revere creativity and understand that storytelling is at the center of everything we do. We support those with whom we work; we don’t get in their way.
Our relationships with the sports leagues are critical and they are second to none. Our sports partners appreciate the unrivaled quality of our production, and our commitment to making every sporting event as big and spectacular as possible. Our nearly 40-year partnership with the Olympics, Sky’s decades-long partnership with the Premier League and Sunday Night Football, which has been the #1 primetime show for 15 years, are a testament to how we treat those with whom we do business.
And our internal collaboration program – Symphony, which we developed 15 years ago – remains the envy of the industry and continues to help drive the success of our most important properties. It is a big reason why talent loves to work with us.
3. Our content and partnerships will have no boundaries.
We are focused on maximizing reach and have set ourselves apart from our peers by not limiting our content to a single platform or ecosystem. We have an open architecture that allows us to develop and distribute content across our own platforms while also partnering broadly across the industry, bringing in third-party IP when it makes sense for our businesses. This flexibility allows us to extend the value of our content, meet audiences where they are and remain a trusted partner across creators, platforms and distributors. For example, theme parks are the trusted homes for our own IP, of course, but also for extraordinary franchises and partners like Harry Potter and Nintendo – and that’s a real advantage.
And as Peacock continues to grow with its unique blend of sports, first-run movies, unscripted, originals and our deep franchise library, we are fielding exciting partnership opportunities and working effectively with some of the world’s leading global technology, entertainment and commerce companies. We will continue to invest in these types of relationships.
4. We will build this company and deliver what our audiences and guests want.
We are prepared to invest, and we are actively doing so. I look at our investments on a continuum. First, what we have recently invested in. Just last year we opened Epic Universe, announced the creation of our first U.K. theme park and are putting the finishing touches on the first Universal Kids Resort, which we are opening this week. We invested big in the NBA, extended our long-term partnership with the Olympics and Sky has renewed most major sports rights to near the end of the decade. Across our studios and media businesses, we are investing in franchises, talent and premium IP, such as our new partnership with Taylor Sheridan. Currently, we are also exploring new frontiers and formats – working with world-class creators, while expanding into areas like vertical video, microdramas and AI-powered personalization and interactive mobile features, such as IP-based mini-games and the first-of-its-kind Your Bravoverse.
But the most exciting part is where we will go from here. We have the ambition to pursue opportunities that keep us ahead of evolving consumer behavior and audience demands. We have the freedom to explore adjacent businesses where we have the right to play, thanks to the stability of our company and management team and our strong balance sheet. And we will continue to build from this position of strength, investing with discipline and looking ahead to what’s next.
The Road Ahead
I am energized by our position in the media and entertainment landscape, our diverse set of assets, our strategy and of course our culture and people. As I said at the outset, this is the beginning of something special. I have big aspirations for this new company and can’t wait to get started.
In the months ahead, we will be business as usual across NBCUniversal and Sky. We have our work cut out for us this year, with huge tentpole events and moments across the entire company. It is important that we continue to focus on the work at hand and maintain our momentum.
It is fitting that this moment comes as NBC marks its 100th anniversary. A century ago, NBC was founded as America’s first broadcast network. We introduced the country to a new way of hearing, seeing and experiencing the world — and, in doing so, laid the groundwork for modern media. Since then, our company has grown and adapted, and led through innovation, repeatedly redefining what was possible and leaving an enduring mark on our culture.
I hope you are all as excited as I am for the journey ahead.
Best,
Mike
