American journalist, author and DealBook founder
Comcast has announced a tax-free spin-off that will separate NBCUniversal and Sky into a standalone, publicly traded media company while leaving Comcast focused on broadband, wireless and business services. The company has said the separation will complete in about a year, executives told investors, and Comcast will initially keep up to 19.9% of the new media group.
eBay has rejected GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s unsolicited $125-per-share offer — about $55.5bn — after its board has reviewed the proposal and found uncertainty in financing, added leverage and operational risks. GameStop has built roughly a 5% stake in eBay and has signalled it will consider taking the offer directly to shareholders.