Billionaire Elon Musk surprised many people when he bought social media platform Twitter in 2022, and he could be back with another media acquisition in 2025. In a post, he asked about the price of Comcast Corporation‘s CMCSA cable assets, ahead of a planned spinoff.
What Happened: Musk spent $44 billion to acquire Twitter, now known as X, back in 2022. The move added to the portfolio of companies owned or controlled by the world's richest man.
Musk could have his eyes set on the cable assets of Comcast Corporation being spun off, which include MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel. Comcast will keep ownership of the NBC broadcast network, Bravo, NBC Sports, Peacock streaming platform and Universal theme parks.
While Comcast has not placed MSNBC or other assets for sale, choosing instead to spin them off as a separate company, Musk has expressed interest either jokingly or as a foreshadowing of an eventual purchase.
"How much does it cost?" Musk tweeted in reply to a post from Donald Trump Jr. saying he had "the funniest idea ever."
Trump Jr. shared a post suggesting that Comcast was looking for a buyer of MSNBC.
While Musk has spoken ill of the "mainstream media" for many years, a purchase of MSNBC or the cable assets from Comcast wouldn't be a huge surprise at this point, given his past purchase of Twitter.
Musk posted that he loved Twitter on Dec. 21, 2017, which prompted a user to say "you should buy it then." Musk responded "how much is it" and that post preceded Musk's eventual acquisition of the company.
The billionaire has often said "the most entertaining outcome is the most likely" and an acquisition of MSNBC would certainly be entertaining.
Prediction market Polymarket has a betting market open for "Will Elon Musk buy MSNBC?" The market, which has around $520,000 wagered, currently shows a 15% chance that Musk buys MSNBC. The market, which opened for trading on Nov. 22, hit a high of 19% on Nov. 23. The prediction market shows a low probability of Musk announcing an acquisition.
On Polymarket, users deposit funds using USDC USDC/USD via the Polygon MATIC/USD network or directly from a crypto account with Ethereum ETH/USD. Winning wagers cash out at $1 per contract.
The market will resolve as “Yes” if Musk or a Musk-controlled entity announced a plan to acquire MSNBC by March 31, 2025 whether the acquisition has been completed.
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Is Musk Serious?: The big question on everyone's mind is whether Musk is serious. Buying MSNBC would add to the billionaire's portfolio of companies and also increase his workload, which comes as he is set to take on a government role co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk currently owns or leads X, SpaceX, Tesla Inc TSLA, xAI, The Boring Company, Neuralink and more. While some of these companies count on other individuals as CEO or COO to offset Musk's other time commitments, there likely aren't enough hours in the day for Musk to make an impact at all these companies already on the daily.
"My workload went up from 70 to 80 hours a week to probably 120," Musk said after buying Twitter. "Go to sleep, I wake up, work, go to sleep, work, do that 7 days a week."
While Musk is a known workaholic and likely would love the challenge of adding another company to the mix, Tesla shareholders might not love the thought.
As a publicly traded company, Tesla is one of Musk’s top priorities and frequently faces intense scrutiny for missed milestones and performance targets. If Musk were to devote more time to leading MSNBC after a potential acquisition, it would likely raise concerns among investors and analysts.
Musk is worth $348 billion according to Bloomberg, making him the richest person in the world. Another key question would be how much cash Musk readily has available or if he would need to borrow against his key holdings or sell Tesla stock to complete the acquisition.
The billionaire sold Tesla shares in 2022 to help fund the Twitter acquisition, a move some analysts referred to as an overhang on Tesla stock. Tesla stock was down 65% in 2022, marking the worst year since the company went public and one of only two years the stock has been down since going public in 2010.
Why It's Important: A report from CNN says that at least one billionaire has reached out to express interest in buying MSNBC and it wasn't Musk.
Comcast has not indicated that MSNBC or its other assets are for sale. With plans already in motion for a tax-free spinoff of a new company to shareholders, it would likely require an exceptionally compelling offer to persuade the board or shareholders to consider an alternative course.
While one unnamed billionaire is interested, another told CNN he has no interest.
"I don't think there is anything anyone can do to change the impact of linear TV news. So the answer is no," Mark Cuban told CNN.
CMCSA Price Action: Comcast stock is down 1.5% to $42.54 on Tuesday, versus a 52-week trading range of $36.43 to $47.11. The stocks' year-to-date and five-year returns of negative 1.1% and negative 2.2%, respectively, have greatly trailed the overall market, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up 26.4% year-to-date and up 90.1% over the last five years.
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