What smart people are saying about Comcast spinning off NBC and Sky
Comcast said on Monday that it is spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate company from its broadband business.
Investors cheered on the news, sending Comcast's share price up as much as 17% on Monday before paring the gain.
The company said the move would give both the cable and media sides of the firm more strategic freedom going forward. As Business Insider's Peter Kafka writes, what once sounded like a good idea—the company that sells you your cable and internet also making shows and movies—now seems less so, and the spinoff is an acknowledgment that these businesses are more valuable apart than tied up together.
"It has become clear that our technology and media businesses each have compelling opportunities in front of them that are distinct in nature and best pursued with dedicated focus, strategic flexibility, and tailored investment priorities," Brian Roberts, Comcast's co-CEO, said during a conference call on Monday.
Here's what some top commentators in business and markets are saying about the news.
Nary said the deal could set the stage for a coming merger or acquisition with another media giant.
"This split makes sense, leads to creation of two more focused, hopefully more profitable businesses," he wrote on X. "That is, until the next opportunity for a media megamerger presents itself. In fact, I guarantee the big industry players are already considering whether there is a deal to be made there in pursuit of building an ever-bigger empire."
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Barrington told Business Insider that the spinoff could spur other media giants to break themselves up, given that investors rewarded the move after it was announced.
"For the broader market, it's the clearest sign yet of the 2026 conglomerate breakup wave, focus is finally worth more than scale, and a 20% bounce on a deal this size puts every sprawling media and telecom giant on notice," he said.
Gerber said it was "about time" the move happened, and that Disney should follow suit with ESPN and ABC.
"This seems to be the path Disney needs to take as shareholders have suffered long enough and the assets are worth more apart than together," he wrote on X.
Like Nary, Katz also pointed to potential M&A activity down the road.
"The Comcast/NBCU split makes M&A even easier moving forward. Cleaner, smaller balance sheets ~15 years after unified scale was all the rage," he wrote on X. "Content hasn't moved the shareholder needle for companies where it isn't the core product."
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