Comcast spent $336 million to not acquire Time Warner Cable.
In the company’s Q1 earnings report, it reported $99 in “transaction” costs. If you add that to all the other transaction costs Comcast reported in 2014 it looks something like this:
Comcast has reported $336 million in costs tied to TWC/Charter deals:
Q1 15: $99M
Q4 14: $99M
Q3 14: $77M
Q2 14: $44M
Q1 14: $17M
— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) May 4, 2015
“The costs are mainly for legal fees and outside consulting firms—everything from Human Resources and IT consulting to banks and management consulting services,” Comcast VP of Government Communications Sena Fitzmaurice told Ars Technica. “Communications and lobbying fees would be included—however, what is included has to be direct and incremental—so only those fees that are directly and incrementally associated with the deal.”
The deal, which was first announced in February of 2014, officially died on April 24, 2015. Comcast announced it had abandoned its efforts to acquire Time Warner Cable, following reports that said the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission were both gearing up to recommend against the deal.
If the merger had been approved, the Comcast-TWC behemoth would’ve controlled 57% of the US broadband market and 30% of the cable market.
Just as he said in the announcement of the deal’s failure, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said that they’re “moving on” in the earnings call.
So, how much money is $336 million? A lot. How much is it to Comcast? Well, here’s a little perspective:
Comcast made more money from "Fifty Shades" than it lost on its merger fail. http://t.co/gjsG2c1uHf pic.twitter.com/v31Vn8hH8o
— Mashable (@mashable) May 4, 2015
Image via Steven Depolo, Flickr Creative Commons