Venture Capital
Comcast Announces Monetization of 100 Million Shares of its Holdings in Liberty Media Series A Common Stock
PHILADELPHIA, PA and WILMINGTON, DE
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) today announced it has entered into forward sale agreements relating to 100 million shares of its ownership stake in Liberty Media Corporation's Series A Common Stock. Goldman Sachs & Co. acted as underwriter with respect to 85 million shares of Liberty common stock sold in connection with the forward sale agreements. Morgan Stanley is the counterparty on the forward sale agreements. Under the forward sale agreements, Comcast will receive an up-front payment of approximately $894 million and will be required to deliver between 71.4 million and 100 million shares of the Liberty common stock, or the cash equivalent thereof, at maturity of the agreement in approximately ten years. The amount of Liberty common stock that Comcast will be required to deliver will depend on the trading price of the Liberty common stock at maturity. Comcast will remain the beneficial owner of the shares unless and until Comcast delivers the shares under the forward sale agreements.
Comcast received approximately 217.7 million shares of Liberty's common stock in September 2003 as part of the purchase price consideration in the sale to Liberty of Comcast's ownership interest in QVC Inc. Proceeds from the forward sale monetization transaction described herein will be used for general corporate purposes.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the shares of Liberty's common stock described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. These offerings may only be made by means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplements, copies of which may be obtained when available from Goldman Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, New York, New York.
Comcast Corporation (www.comcast.com) is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable networks, and in the provision of programming content. The Company is the largest cable company in the United States, serving approximately 21.3 million cable subscribers. The Company's content businesses include majority ownership of Comcast Spectacor, Comcast SportsNet, E! Entertainment Television, Style, The Golf Channel, Outdoor Life Network and G4. Comcast Class A common stock and Class A Special common stock trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbols CMCSA and CMCSK, respectively. The selling security holder in this transaction, Comcast QVC, Inc., is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.