Comcast is planning to split off NBCUniversal as a separate company, creating two titans — one in cable and internet service and another in media and entertainment — that will remain independent, Comcast announced on Monday.
But many on Wall Street doubt either will remain that way for long.
The Comcast chairman, Brian Roberts, who will be actively involved in the leadership of both companies, told investors Monday that the move was “absolutely not” about preparing either for a sale. But that didn’t tamp down speculation about deals the companies could strike as a buyer or a seller.
The media and telecommunications industries are in the throes of an avalanche of deal-making this year. The cable giants Charter Communications and Cox Communications are completing a $34.5 billion merger, a move intended to help them compete against rivals like Comcast and Verizon. This month, Fox announced plans to acquire Roku, the streaming company, for $22 billion. Paramount, the media company run by the tech scion David Ellison, is closing a $111 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the company behind HBO and CNN, after a failed bid from Netflix.
What’s behind the split?
Comcast said the transaction was intended to create two more focused companies. “Both companies come out of this better off than they started,” Mr. Roberts told The New York Times.
Investors appeared to agree, with Comcast gaining about $4 billion in market value after the spinoff was announced. The company is now worth more than $87 billion in its current, combined state.
Comcast connects millions of Americans to broadband and traditional television. It spun off its cable channels this year, including MS Now, CNBC and USA, as a separate company called Versant. After the split with NBCUniversal, what remains of Comcast would generate more than $60 billion in revenue, analysts at UBS estimated.
NBCUniversal, which the UBS analysts estimate will also have around $60 billion in revenue after the split, is a more sprawling and less profitable operation. It includes Universal Pictures, the movie studio behind hits like “Mamma Mia!” and the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, and Focus Features, the smaller studio behind “Lost in Translation” and “Atonement.” It also runs a robust theme parks business, with major resorts in Orlando, Fla., and Hollywood. And there is NBC, the broadcaster behind “Saturday Night Live” and “The Voice,” and Sky, the European media and telecommunications company.
The split could make it easier for each company to find like-minded suitors or acquisition targets.
Who might make a deal with Comcast?
Comcast’s connectivity business is the most obvious contender for a deal, according to several analysts. Michael Angelakis, the executive Comcast named to run the cable business after the split, is a former private equity executive with experience in mergers and acquisitions.
At the top of analysts’ lists for a potential combination is Charter, which offers cable and broadband services in 41 states, primarily under its Spectrum brand. Shares of the company jumped 10 percent on Monday after the Comcast split was announced. A spokesperson for Charter declined to comment.
A merger of the two companies would create a giant in broadband that could better compete with Verizon, a major internet provider. It would also allow Comcast to increase its footprint in the United States, since the two companies don’t overlap much geographically.
But analysts questioned whether Comcast would benefit.
“The economics of running a cable system in Chicago aren’t materially impacted by whether you do or don’t own a cable system in North or South Carolina,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. “Both Comcast and Charter are already amply large enough that the cost synergies from getting larger wouldn’t be all that material.”
Charter’s sizable debt, worth $96 billion, is another deterrent to a deal, three people familiar with the situation said.
Who might want a tie-up with NBCUniversal?
Much of the early speculation around a bidder for NBCUniversal centered on Netflix, which this year lost out on a high-profile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. NBCUniversal would give Netflix access to prime television shows, like “The Office,” and film franchises, like “Jurassic Park.” Its theme park unit last year made as much in adjusted profit as the media unit, about $3 billion, on about a third of the revenue.
But Netflix may not want the complications that come with owning a broadcast network, which are governed by strict ownership rules. Netflix already has an agreement with NBCUniversal to distribute content from the company’s two animation studios, Illumination and DreamWorks Animation. Starting next year, the streamer will add live-action films from Universal Pictures and Focus Features in the United States. Licensing the content costs much less than buying the studios.
Shareholders also punished Netflix when it was trying to acquire Warner Bros., driving its share price down by about 40 percent while it pursued the bid. A spokesperson for Netflix declined to comment.
Several bankers suggested that Amazon could be a bidder for NBCUniversal. The company bought the film and entertainment studio MGM in 2022 and expressed interest in Warner Bros. Discovery. Still, Amazon may not want to divert billions away from the money it needs to fuel its aggressive data center expansion. A spokeswoman said the company did not comment on speculation.
Any deal could take a while. Comcast is structuring the spinoff as a tax-free transaction, a design that may mean a sale of NBCUniversal would have to wait at least two years to preserve the tax benefits, analysts said.
But NBCUniversal might make more sense as a buyer, not a seller, said Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed Partners. Comcast’s spinoff, he wrote in a note to investors, was intended to “enable future acquisitions,” not to “sell either part of the company.”
One banker said NBCUniversal should consider acquiring parts of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the movie and television studio behind prestige films like “The Social Network” and profitable syndicated juggernauts like “Jeopardy!” It’s not clear whether its parent company, Sony Group of Japan, would be willing to give up those assets. A spokesperson for Sony declined to comment.
What are the politics of a deal?
President Trump has expressed a keen interest in media deals, and any moves by Comcast or NBCUniversal would probably trigger regulatory review.
Mr. Trump has been a longtime critic of Mr. Roberts, the Comcast chairman, calling him a “disgrace to the integrity of broadcasting” in a 2025 social media post. He has repeatedly called out Mr. Roberts over news coverage on MSNBC and NBC.
Comcast has donated millions of dollars this year to the president’s fund to build a White House ballroom, The Times reported. Two of Comcast’s executives attended a dinner to thank donors.
Benjamin Mullin and Nicole Sperling contributed reporting.
