
21st Century Fox has agreed to sell its 39 percent stake in European pay-TV provider to Comcast, after losing out in the auction to buy Sky to the US cable operator. At Comcast's offer of GBP 17.28 per Sky share, 21CF's stake is worth GBP 11.6 billion (over USD 15 billion).
21CF said in a statement that it would either tender its shares in Comcast's offer or sell the stake directly to Comcast. Disney, which is in the process of acquiring much of 21CF, has given its consent for the sale.
The company congratulated Comcast on the acquisition and said it was proud of the role it had played in building Sky. Launched in the UK in 1989 by the former News Corp as a handful of satellite pay-TV channels, the company has since grown into a European player with over 23 million customers in TV and telecom services, as well as its own content production and hardware development.