Comcast has thrown in the towel in the bidding war to snatch up assets of 21st Century Fox.
The cable giant announced on Thursday that it will instead focus on its bid for British broadcaster Sky.
The decision means Disney's $71 billion agreement to buy most of Fox can proceed unchallenged. Comcast had twice outbid the entertainment giant for those assets. It's last offer in June came in at $65 billion, and [some reports](https://www.wsj.com/articles/comcast-isnt-done-yet-1529524156) suggested bidding could go as high as $80 billion.
"Our focus now is on completing the regulatory process and ultimately moving toward integrating our businesses," said Disney CEO Bob Iger in a statement about the move.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said, "I’d like to congratulate Bob Iger and the team at Disney and commend the Murdoch family and Fox for creating such a desirable and respected company."
The two companies were vying for Fox's film and TV studios, the networks FX and NatGeo, and its stakes in Hulu, India's Star network, andーto complicate thingsーSky.
Fox currently holds a 39 percent stake in Sky and last week offered to buy the rest in a deal that value the company at $32.5 billion. Comcast responded with an all-cash bid of $34 billion, 12 percent higher than what it first offered in February.
"Sky is clearly a crown jewel, you see all this competition for it," said Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey. "It's something that would really give Comcast exposure to international markets, which they don't have. It would be massive for Comcast."
But UK regulators gave Fox the green light last week, which could mean the company would ultimately go to Disney.
A [Wall Street Journal report](https://www.wsj.com/articles/disneys-big-question-how-crucial-is-sky-to-its-fox-deal-1531915200) Wednesday suggested Disney might be willing to do without Sky if it meant avoiding a continued bidding war for Fox. Whether it's willing to sustain a battle for Sky is still a question.
Either way, the merger would further increase competition in the crowded streaming market, said Hagey, author of "The King of Content." Disney announced plans last year to create its own streaming service, which would likely include Fox's content.
"You already have to subscribe to four or five services if you want to watch the show that people are talking about at the water cooler," Hagey said. "It's going to only become more fragmented."
Disney and Fox shareholders are set to vote on their proposed combination on July 27th. The Justice Department approved the deal in late June.
For the full segment, [click here.]( https://cheddar.com/videos/comcast-drops-fox-bid-and-state-of-media-m-and-a)
Eight months after the National Football League announced $1 million in research into cannabinoids, the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee has awarded the funding to two teams of medical researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Regina. The NFL says the studies will investigate the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players, respectively. Cheddar correspondent Chloe Ailello spoke with Jeff Miller, the executive vice president of communications, public affairs, and policy for the NFL, about the studies, as well as the recent lawsuit filed against the NFL by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. "Maybe we can learn things from other alternative pain approaches that are going to benefit our player population and then sports medicine as a whole," Miller said.
All Hands celebrates Black History Month by highlighting achievements in inclusivity and paying homage to those who have fought for equal rights. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) joins Cheddar News to discuss voter suppression; Damali Peterman, CEO of Breakthrough ADR, elaborates on the biggest barriers for Black professionals; Andre Perry, senior fellow of Brookings Institution, dives into student loans and the racial wealth divide; and lastly, BET CEO Scott Mills discusses the company's initiatives for 2022.
Hinge users who have children can opt-in to a $100 stipend up to $25,000 for childcare. Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the online dating platform, noted the issue as an obstacle for single parents who want to go out on dates. "We have heard that singles with children have a hard time going on dates for one of the reasons being that it's just hard to find childcare and it's hard to be able to afford it," she said. Ury also said that the hot topic among Hinge's users is mental health and the prioritizing of mental health.
According to the Federal Reserve, the investment gap between Black and white Americans has remained substantial, with only 34 percent of Black households joining in on the historic rise in the markets. Stacey Tisdale, the first Black woman to have reported from the NYSE and the CEO and president of Mind Money Media Inc., said that the data might not be as disheartening as it seems. "I think that number is very deceiving. That Federal Reserve study is actually from 2019, and it's very important that we all look beneath that number and look beneath the surface because there is nothing short of an investing revolution going on in the Black community," Tisdale said.
Facebook parent Meta’s miss on Q4 earnings raised alarm bells amongst investors. The tech giant lost users for the first time as it invests a lot into the metaverse, its virtual realm, in the hopes that consumers will move their social media consumption there. The stock dropped around 25 percent on the report, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg chalked it up to people flocking toward apps like TikTok, even as his own platform attempts to make a big pivot to the metaverse future. "It's gonna take a long time to develop and it's gonna take a long time to bring to fruition," Rebecca Walser, president of Walser Wealth Management told Cheddar. "In the meantime, the world is moving on. We have a very short attention span, especially on social media, and we want the short little videos. And Tiktok has just taken off."
Wall Street saw another volatile day after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged for now, with plans to raise rates in March at its next meeting in order to ease inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed has not made decisions on the size of rate increases, adding that the Fed is not trying to get inflation below two-percent. Ken Johnson, CFA and Investment Strategy Analyst explains why Powell thinks that high inflation is a significant threat to the labor market.
