Comcast

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Comcast Corporation

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN US20030N1019
founding 1963 in Tupelo , Mississippi
Seat Philadelphia , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
management Brian L. Roberts ( CEO & Chairman)
Number of employees 190,000 (2019)
sales $ 108.9 billion (2019)
Branch Cable operator , internet provider
Website www.comcast.com
As of January 30, 2020

The Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator , according to AT & T 's second-largest Internet service provider, and after AT & T and Verizon Communications , the third largest phone company in the United States . In the annual ranking of the largest international media corporations by the Institute for Media and Communication Policy, Comcast ranks first with 2015 sales of US $ 51.8 billion. Comcast currently offers its services in 39 states and the District of Columbia . Is the seat of Comcast in Philadelphia ( Pennsylvania , USA ) in the Comcast Center .

At the Forbes Global 2000, Comcast ranks 27th (as of 2020).

history

American Cable Systems Inc.

American Cable Systems Inc. was founded on June 28, 1963 by Ralph J. Roberts , Daniel Aaron and Julian A. Brodsky in Tupelo ( Mississippi ). American Cable Systems Inc. acquired Community Antenna Television Services (CATV) from Jerrold Electronics Company . Community Antenna Television Services was one of the few providers in the United States to offer cable television in rural areas . In the years that followed, American Cable System Inc. took over a number of other franchises in eastern Mississippi . With the takeover of Westmoreland cable system , American Cable System expanded its catchment area to western Pennsylvania. A joint venture with the Philadelphia Bulletin was established in 1966 to set up cable systems in Sarasota and Venice , both in Florida .

Comcast Inc.

Since the name American Cable Systems Inc. sounds too static and not like a fast growing company, Ralph J. Roberts looked for a suitable new name. This he found in the portmanteau Comcast , composed of the two words Com munication and Broad cast . On March 5, 1969, the Comcast Corporation was re-established in Philadelphia . The company's headquarters were relocated to Bala Cynwyd .

Group W Cable

The first major acquisition, together with Century Communications Corp. , American Television & Communications Corp. (Subsidiary of Time Inc. ) and Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI, subsidiary of AT&T), was the cable television division Group W Cable of Westinghouse Electric Corp. in 1986 for $ 1.7 billion. The acquisition was preceded by a bidding process that was hoped to raise between $ 2.4 billion and $ 2.8 billion for Group W Cable. Group W Cable has a reach of 2.1 million users. The Chicago cable TV network and Group W Satellite were not affected by the takeover. Comcast had a 25% stake in this consortium . Group W Cable was dissolved on October 9, 1986. With the completion of the takeover, the number of Comcast customers grew to over a million.

American Cellular Network Corp.

On February 11, 1988, Comcast announced that American Cellular Network Corp. for $ 230 million. American Cellular Networks operates cellular networks in New Jersey , Delaware, and Maryland . This was Comcast's entry into the cellular space. In 1991, American Cellular Network acquired the Philadelphia area cellular operations from the Metromedia Company .

Storer Communications Inc.

In 1987, just under two years after taking over Group W Cable , Comcast tried to join forces with American Television & Communications Corp. and Taft Cable Partners (joint venture between Tele-Communication Inc. and investor Robert M. Bass ) to acquire SCI Holdings Inc. (formerly Storer Communications Inc. owned by KKR ) for $ 2.9 billion. SCI Holdings Inc. had 1.4 million users. Due to internal differences between the partners, the takeover was canceled.

In April 1988, Comcast and TCI offered SCI Holdings Inc. $ 1.55 billion.

QVC

1995 Comcast took over with TCI (through the subsidiary Liberty Media ) the remaining shares of Time Warner in the sales channel QVC for 200 million US dollar. Thus Comcast held 57.4% and TCI 42.6% in QVC. Comcast took over the management of the company.

In 2002 Liberty Media began negotiating the shares in QVC with Comcast. In 2003, Liberty Media took over Comcast's 57.4% stake for $ 7.9 billion. With the takeover, Liberty Media holds 98% of QVC, the rest is held by management. The bid came at a time when Comcast needed money to acquire AT & T's cable television division.

AT&T Comcast

AT&T Comcast logo

In December 2001, Comcast won the bidding war with AOL Time Warner and Cox Communications for AT & T's cable television division . The acquisition was valued at $ 72 billion, $ 47 billion in 1.235 billion new shares for AT&T shareholders, cable television debt of $ 20 billion and a convertible bond of $ 5 billion, which the Microsoft Corporation held. The shareholders of AT&T have a stake of 53% and Comcast of 47% in the newly formed company. A pension fund was set up for the former AT&T employees . Upon completion of the acquisition, Comcast was renamed AT&T Comcast . As a condition for the approval of the merger by the FCC, AT&T Comcast had to hold the shares in Time Warner Cable in trust and sell them within five and a half years.

The newly created AT&T Comcast had a market share of 29% in pay TV and 27 million customers in 41 states.

Adelphia

Together with TimeWarner (for TimeWarner this is the largest takeover since the takeover of AOL ) Comcast offered for the cable provider Adelphia, which has been insolvent since 2002 and operates under Chapter 11 . The 2002 bankruptcy of Adelphia was the seventh largest in US history. Adelphia was a cable operator in 31 states.

The bid was $ 18 billion. At the same time, Comcast was also able to meet the requirements from the merger with the cable division of AT&T by selling the stake in Time Warner Cable to Time Warner Entertainment. The takeover happened very quickly. Success was reported less than two weeks after the takeover was announced. Time Warner and Comcast jointly offered $ 17.6 billion ($ 12.7 billion in cash, $ 4.9 billion in stocks).

Despite the quick agreement, it took until 2007 for the takeover and the split of Adelphia to be completed by Time Warner Cable and Comcast. The acquisition increased Comcast's customer base from 21.4 million cable users to 23 million.

Comcast Center

In 2005 it was announced that Comcast would become the anchor tenant of the Comcast Center in Philadelphia, planned by Liberty Property Trust and Commerz Leasing since 2001 and under construction from 2005 .

The building was designed by Robert AM Stern . Comcast is renting more than 90% of the office space for 15.5 years. From the Comcast Center there is direct access to Suburban Station , which is served by SEPTA with over 30 lines .

Plaxo

Plaxo logo

A few weeks before the announcement of the partnership between Plaxo and Comcast, the SmartZone cloud application was launched. Comcast customers can call up their centrally stored data, such as email and address book, from any device. The partnership was announced on May 7, 2007.

Just a year later, Comcast announced that Plaxo would be acquired for $ 150 to 170 million.

NBC Universal

NBC Universal logo

In early December 2009, Comcast acquired a 51 percent stake in NBCUniversal for around $ 14 billion (6.5 billion in cash; cable channels were valued at $ 7.25 billion) , while the remainder was in General Electric Corporation remained. The majority acquisition of NBCUniversal was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on January 18, 2011 . On January 28, 2011, the takeover was implemented and Comcast took over management. At the same time the cable channels from the Comcast Corporation to the new NBC Universal LLC. transfer.

With the takeover of NBC Universal, Comcast gains access to the 32% share in the video portal Hulu . As a requirement of the Federal Communications Commission, Comcast is not allowed to intervene directly in the management of Hulu. Since Comcast regards Hulu as a strategic investment, management was transferred to the other two shareholders.

On February 12, 2013 Comcast announced that it would also take over the remaining 49 percent of NBC Universal's shares from General Electric. The agreed price for this is around 16.7 billion US dollars, of which 11.4 billion in cash. The deal should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2013. The takeover was completed on March 19, 2013.

Abandoned acquisition of Time Warner Cable

In February 2014, Comcast announced its intention to take over the competing cable operator Time Warner Cable , which is the second largest operator in the USA behind the market leader Comcast in terms of customer numbers. The purchase price of around 45 billion US dollars was to be paid in the form of shares. The takeover would have created by far the largest cable network operator in the USA with over 30 million customers, who not only offers cable television but also Internet connections. Because of the immense market power of the merged group, which also functions as a media company in the form of NBCUniversal , the takeover was criticized from various sides in the USA. Ultimately, Comcast abandoned the takeover due to opposition from the antitrust authorities.

Acquisition of Sky plc.

In September 2018 it was announced that Comcast was taking over the Sky group . The takeover took place in October 2018.

Key figures

Business and employee development (respective fiscal year)
GJ Employees Sales
in US $ million 		Balance sheet profit
in million US $ 		Equity
in US $ million
2005 80,000 21,075 928 103,400
2006 90,000 24,966 2,533 110.405
2007 100,000 31,060 2,587 113,417
2008 100,000 34,423 2,547 113.017
2009 107,000 35,756 3,638 112,733
2010 102,000 37,937 3,635 118,534
2011 126,000 55,842 4,160 157.818
2012 129,000 62,570 6,203 164.971
2013 136,000 64,657 6,816 158.813
2014 139,000 68,775 8,380 159.186
2015 153,000 74,510 8,163 166,574
2016 159,000 80,736 8,678 180,500
2017 164,000 85.029 22,735 187,462
2018 184,000 94.507 11,731 251,684
2019 190,000 108,942 13,057 263,414

criticism

Network Neutrality Controversy

In 2007, Comcast took measures to distort the network and, with the help of Sandvine, sent hardware forged TCP-RST (reset) packets, which disrupted various peer-to-peer protocols from file sharing services. Particularly affected was BitTorrent . This led to an extensive disruption of the BitTorrent transmission processes for Comcast users. This practice had to be officially abandoned at the end of 2008 following a court order.

Tutanota's German co-founder Mathias Pfau claims that his email service was unavailable to Comcast customers for around 18 hours between March 1 and March 2, 2018. He says, "This blocking - malicious or random - shows the power Internet service providers have over our online experience, and it's shocking."

Web links

Commons : Comcast  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brian Roberts , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 40/2011 of October 4, 2011, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of the article freely available)
  2. ↑ a b Annual Report 2019. Accessed July 5, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Top 25 Multichannel Video Programming Distributors as of June 2012 1 - 25 ( Memento from October 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Top 23 US ISPs by Subscriber: Q3 2008 . isp-planet.com , archived from the original on December 14, 2011 ; accessed on December 22, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).
  5. ↑ Karl Bode Wednesday Mar 11 2009 4:01 pm EST: Comcast Now Third Largest Phone Company - Passes Qwest with explosive digital voice growth ... Retrieved December 22, 2018 .
  6. ^ IfM - Intl. Media groups 2017. Accessed December 22, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Comcast Corporation (en) ( Memento from October 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ The World's Largest Public Companies. Retrieved December 22, 2018 .
  9. ^ A b c Comcast American corporation . In: Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved December 22, 2018 .
  10. ^ Business Corporation - Domestic - Information ( Memento of October 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ^ History of Comcast Corporation - FundingUniverse. Retrieved December 22, 2018 .
  12. ^ Comcast Corporation - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Comcast Corporation. Retrieved December 22, 2018 .
  13. ^ Brian Roberts: High-Speed ​​Pipes ( Memento from July 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.corporations.state.pa.us
  15. ↑ a b c Cable Firms to Buy Storer Systems for $ 1.55 Billion. Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1988, archived from the original July 1, 2016 ; accessed on December 23, 2018 (English).
  16. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.highbeam.com
  17. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.highbeam.com
  18. ↑ Charles Storch: 1ST BIDS RECEIVED ON GROUP W CABLE. Retrieved December 22, 2018 (American English).
  19. ↑ Charles Storch: $ 2.1 BILLION CABLE SALE. Retrieved December 23, 2018 (American English).
  20. ^ South Carolina Secretary of State, Mark Hammond: GROUP W CABLE, INC. ( Memento from May 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ^ Company News. American Cellular Deal. The New York Times, February 11, 1988, accessed March 10, 2013 .
  22. ↑ Geraldine Maker: Comcast's $ 1.1 Billion Phone Deal. New York Times, May 8, 1991, accessed January 30, 2012 .
  23. ↑ Geraldine manufacturer: Consortium To Acquire SCI Cable. The New York Times, December 25, 1987, archived from the original on May 24, 2015 ; Retrieved March 11, 2011 .
  24. ^ Comcast Consortium's Deal To Buy Storer Cable Holdings Is Called Off. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 5, 2012 ; accessed on December 23, 2018 (English).
  25. ^ Liberty Media Corporation Annual Report. (PDF) QVC, Inc. (No longer available online.) Liberty Media, April 2004, p. 4 , archived from the original on May 13, 2011 ; accessed on March 13, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.libertymedia.com
  26. ^ Liberty Media Corporation Annual Report. (PDF) QVC, Inc. (No longer available online.) Liberty Media, April 2004, pp. F-2 , archived from the original May 13, 2011 ; accessed on March 13, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.libertymedia.com
  27. ^ Company Town Annex. The Los Angeles Times, February 15, 1995, accessed March 13, 2011 .
  28. ^ John M. Higgins: Liberty Wants QVC Breakup. Broadcasting & Cable, December 15, 2002, accessed March 13, 2011 .
  29. ^ John M. Higgins: Liberty Buying Comcast QVC Stake for $ 8B. Broadcasting & Cable, July 6, 2003, accessed March 13, 2011 .
  30. ↑ Jürgen Kuri: Comcast sells QVC shares to Liberty. heise online, July 4, 2003, accessed on March 14, 2011 .
  31. ^ John M. Higgins: Liberty Presses for Buyout on QVC. Action catches partner Comcast carrying a mammoth debt load. Broadcasting & Cable, September 3, 2003, accessed March 13, 2011 .
  32. ↑ heise online: Three interested parties for the AT&T cable television division. Retrieved December 23, 2018 .
  33. ^ John Borland: Comcast, AT&T cable deal to create Net giant. CNET, December 20, 2001, accessed March 10, 2011 .
  34. ↑ heise online: Comcast buys TV cable division from AT&T. Retrieved December 23, 2018 .
  35. ^ AT&T Corp. and Comcast Corporation. Federal Communications Commission, accessed March 10, 2011 .
  36. ^ FORM 10-K - Comcast Corporation. SEC , accessed November 4, 2015 (American English).
  37. ^ FCC Grants conditioned approval of AT&T Comcast merger. (PDF) TWE separated on day merger closes; Broadband deployment will be enhanced. Federal Communications Commission, accessed March 10, 2011 .
  38. ^ Edmund Sanders: FCC OKs Comcast-AT&T Deal. The combined company will serve 27 million cable customers, or 29% of the national market. Los Angeles Times, accessed March 11, 2011 .
  39. ^ Purchase contract for Adelphia for 18 billion . In: Manager Magazin . April 8, 2005 ( online [accessed March 18, 2011]).
  40. ^ Sinead Carew: Adelphia Business files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . In: Forbes Magazine . March 27, 2002 ( web archive ( memento of May 26, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) [accessed March 19, 2011]).
  41. ↑ BankruptcyData.com (Ed.): 20 Largest Public Company Non-Financial Bankruptcy Filings 1980 - Present . ( online [PDF; accessed March 19, 2011]).
  42. ↑ Adelphia Sale Could Fetch More Than $ 18 Billion . In: Forbes Magazine . September 22, 2004 ( online [accessed March 19, 2011]).
  43. ^ Andreas Wilkens: Newspaper: Time Warner and Comcast buy cable TV company Adelphia . In: heise online . April 8, 2011 ( online [accessed March 14, 2011]).
  44. ^ A b Peter Key: Comcast adjusts to accommodate Adelphia deal . In: Philadelphia Business Journal . December 15, 2005 ( online [accessed March 19, 2011]).
  45. ^ Adelphia takeover by Time Warner and Comcast in dry hands . In: heise online . April 21, 2011 ( online [accessed March 14, 2011]).
  46. ^ Tara Murphy: Media Firms Plan $ 18B Adelphia Acquisition . In: Forbes Magazine . ( Online [accessed March 19, 2011]).
  47. ^ Time Warner Cable / Comcast Official Statement . Time Warner Cable , April 8, 2006; archived from the original on September 26, 2007 ; accessed on March 12, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  48. ↑ a b Comcast Center claims its place atop the Philadelphia skyline. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Liberty Property Trust, p. 3 , archived from the original on February 5, 2011 ; Retrieved March 15, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.libertyproperty.com
  49. ^ Comcast Center. (No longer available online.) Robert AM Stern Architects LLP, archived from the original on April 24, 2011 ; Retrieved March 15, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ramsa.com
  50. ↑ Comcast Center claims its place atop the Philadelphia skyline. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Liberty Property Trust, p. 1 , archived from the original on February 5, 2011 ; Retrieved March 15, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.libertyproperty.com
  51. ^ Comcast Partners with Plaxo. (No longer available online.) Plaxo, May 7, 2007, archived from the original on May 12, 2012 ; Retrieved February 15, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blog.plaxo.com
  52. ^ Comcast Announces Plans to Launch Interactive SmartZone (TM) Communications Center. Partners with HP, Plaxo, Zimbra and Other Industry Leaders to Create Innovative Web-based Communication Application. (No longer available online.) Comcast May 7, 2007, archived from the original on November 12, 2012 ; Retrieved February 15, 2012 .
  53. ^ Comcast goes social with Plaxo acquisition. Correction, 5/15, 6:15 pm: The purchase price for Plaxo was previously misstated. The price is thought to fall in the $ 150 million to $ 170 million range. In: CNET. May 14, 2008, accessed February 15, 2012 .
  54. ^ Jemima Kiss: Cable firm Comcast buys Plaxo website. In: The Guardian. May 15, 2008, accessed February 15, 2012 .
  55. ↑ Meg James: Comcast to buy control of NBC Universal in $ 30-billion transaction. The deal underscores how the high profit-margin business of cable TV has become the financial backbone of media conglomerates. In: The Los Angeles Times. December 4, 2009, accessed March 13, 2011 .
  56. ↑ Comcast takes over NBC Universal. Handelsblatt, December 3, 2009, accessed on March 10, 2011 .
  57. ^ Comcast Corporation and NBC Universal. Federal Communications Commission, accessed March 10, 2011 .
  58. ^ Comcast and GE complete transaction to form NBCUniversal, LLC. (No longer available online.) NBC Universal, formerly the original ; Retrieved October 3, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nbcuni.com  
  59. ↑ Chadwick Matlin: NBC Officially Owns 32 Percent of Hulu (Until Comcast Acquires It). In: The Big Money. February 3, 2010, accessed March 30, 2011 .
  60. ↑ Volker Briegleb: Green light for Comcast-Universal. In: heise. January 18, 2011, accessed March 30, 2011 .
  61. ↑ FCC grants approval of Comcast-NBCU transaction. (PDF) Federal Communications Commission, January 18, 2011, p. 2 , accessed October 3, 2012 .
  62. ^ Brian Stelter: Comcast to Give Up NBC's Management Role at Hulu. In: The New York Times. January 18, 2011, accessed May 27, 2015 .
  63. ↑ Amy Chozick, Brian Stelter: Comcast Buys Rest of NBC in Early Sale. In: The New York Times. February 12, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2015 (American English).
  64. ↑ NBC Universal Transaction Overview. Comcast, accessed May 27, 2015 (American English).
  65. ↑ Billionaire deal in the American cable TV industry. In: The time. February 13, 2014, accessed May 27, 2015 .
  66. ↑ "Like the tyrant in the schoolyard". In: The daily newspaper. February 14, 2014, accessed May 27, 2015 .
  67. ↑ Comcast wins tug-of-war for Sky group. Tagesanzeiger.ch , September 23, 2018, accessed on September 25, 2018 .
  68. ↑ Uwe Mantel: It's done: Sky is now officially part of Comcast. October 9, 2018, accessed June 7, 2019 .
  69. ↑ Comcast Revenue 2006-2019 | CMCSA. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  70. ↑ Comcast is using Sandvine to manage P2P Connections. In: DSLReports.com. Retrieved March 10, 2011 .
  71. ↑ Comcast Throttles Bit Torrent Traffic, Seeding Impossible. TorrentFreak, accessed March 10, 2011 .
  72. ↑ Shaun Nichols: Tutanota blames Comcast block for March 1 outage. March 12, 2018, accessed March 12, 2019 .