In April 2022, stocks in Twitter Inc. soared after a securities submitting printed that Elon Musk had received a multi-billion buck stake within the corporate. What adopted over the process the following few months is now the stuff of web legend: Musk would move on to chop a deal to procure all of Twitter for $44 billion, ahead of seeking to again out of the deal, after which in spite of everything following via.
He due to this fact employed NBCUniversal’s former head of promoting gross sales, Linda Yaccarino, to be Twitter’s CEO, after which modified the emblem to “X,” pronouncing that it might turn into an the entirety app, and the house of loose speech on the net.
Now, Musk has been on a posting spree about MSNBC, the left-leaning cable channel this is owned by way of Comcast’s NBCUniversal. Musk, who has posted about MSNBC just about each day for every week, has been suggesting that he needs to shop for the channel.
So Is MSNBC For Sale?
No, MSNBC isn’t on the market.
A Comcast spokesperson says: “We’re taking a look ahead to the deliberate spin of our cable networks, which is able to create a brand new corporate owned by way of our shareholders – none of those belongings are on the market.”
Why Is Everybody Speaking About It Being Up For Sale Then?
As alluded to within the commentary, Comcast, the cable large that owns NBCUniversal, introduced a big derivative of its cable channels final week, together with USA, Syfy, E!, Oxygen, CNBC and, sure, MSNBC. How it’s going to paintings is that during kind of a yr, the brand new corporate (known as “SpinCo” for now) will likely be spun out from Comcast, however current Comcast shareholders will likely be shareholders. Simply as Brian Roberts and the Roberts circle of relatives personal a couple of 3rd of Comcast, they’re going to personal an identical quantity of SpinCo.
The corporate is hoping {that a} standalone cable corporate can also be extra strategic, pursuing M&A offers or different ventures which might be difficult to do as a part of the bigger corporate. “The corporate could have vital money go with the flow, a powerful stability sheet, and the monetary flexibility to pursue enlargement alternatives, each organically and doubtlessly via acquisitions,” Comcast president Mike Cavanagh mentioned in a memo to workforce pronouncing the spin.
Would They Promote Off MSNBC As soon as The Spin Off Is Entire?
Don’t depend on it.
MSNBC, like every cable channels, has been grappling with cord-cutting, viewership declines, and the bigger problems going through each cable information channels and cable writ massive.
If MSNBC have been severed from the remainder of the cable channels, it might be dramatically tougher to ink distribution offers that contain necessarily all of MSNBC’s income. There’s hope that underneath the brand new construction, SpinCo may well be in a scenario to spend money on MSNBC, and work out a trail ahead given the bigger trade declines.
There also are every other complicating components (see under).
Couldn’t Musk Simply Purchase The Complete New Corporate?
Not likely! It will be tricky, time-consuming and dear. For the reason that new corporate could have such centralized regulate within the Roberts circle of relatives, it might be very tricky to do a deal with out their buy-in. And both method, it might be very pricey, requiring a hefty top rate on its marketplace cap.
And naturally, the deal is being structured as a tax-free derivative, a construction that signifies that massive scale M&A can’t be finished for no less than two years to be able to retain its tax-free standing. That will make any deal extraordinarily tricky within the medium time period, with out inflicting a big tax headache for shareholders.
Why Is Elon So Concerned with MSNBC Anyway?
Musk has been important of MSNBC for years, attacking segments or feedback from hosts. The present information cycle turns out to originate from a meme shared by way of Donald Trump Jr., which advised (once more, wrongly) that the channel is being put it on the market, and including “Hello @elonmusk I’ve the funniest concept ever!!!”
The preferred comic and podcast host Joe Rogan even jumped in, with a joking be offering to take Rachel Maddow’s task if Musk was once a hit. Maddow, it must be famous, not too long ago signed a brand new long-term handle MSNBC, giving the channel some safety that its marquee ability will stick round even after the spinout is whole
Since obtaining Twitter, Musk has been sharply important of all information protection, steadily stating to customers of X that “you’re the media now” and inspiring them to “ahead X posts” to their family and friends.
Musk additionally has some non-public problems with each Microsoft and its founder, Invoice Gates, which would possibly play a task.
In fact, Microsoft exited its stake in MSNBC again in 2012. The “MS” in MSNBC is like an appendix, a vestige of the previous that doesn’t have any specific which means within the provide past being part of the emblem itself.
Wait, What Private Animus With Invoice Gates?
Musk runs a synthetic intelligence corporate known as xAI, and he has been very vocal and important of OpenAI — which he was once concerned about from its founding — and OpenAI’s handle Microsoft. Musk has filed a lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI, and named Microsoft as a defendant.
As well as, Musk up to now had a private red meat with Gates, stemming from when the Microsoft founder took a big quick place in Tesla (a brief is while you guess that the price of a inventory is going down). So the private animus vis a vie Gates and OpenAI, paired with an actual monetary incentive with xAI, may possibly be at play there.
Didn’t He Finish Up Purchasing Twitter After Hinting That He Sought after To?
He positive did, however no longer with out a battle! Musk and Twitter very just about went to courtroom in Delaware, ahead of he acquiesced and closed the deal.
Whilst Musk is the richest guy on the earth (his internet value is just about $350 billion as of writing as of writing), he doesn’t simply have that a lot money stashed underneath his mattress (and even in Dogecoin). Maximum of his wealth is tied up in Tesla and SpaceX inventory. He can’t promote Tesla inventory with out inflicting it to head decrease, and SpaceX is non-public, creating a sale inconvenient and hard.
For the Twitter deal, Musk sought out of doors financiers and took out a margin mortgage, secured by way of Tesla inventory. It’s not transparent that he would have the ability to prolong his margin mortgage to hide every other multi-billion buck deal.
If, In some way, One way or the other, Musk Effectively Received MSNBC, What Would He Even Do?
Twitter was once and nonetheless is a platform that newsmakers, robust folks, politicians, celebrities and information media accumulate to discuss issues, and platform dynamics imply that whilst Musk has saturated it with customers extra conversant in memes and trolling, the choice of castaways turns out to stay quite restricted.
Cable information is a completely other industry.
Whilst returning Joe Rogan to the NBC circle of relatives would most probably be a rankings draw (identical to the Rogan-hosted NBC truth pageant sequence Worry Issue was once, again within the day), blowing up MSNBC’s lineup would most probably purpose its present audience to escape. Not like a social platform powered by way of platform dynamics, a TV channel is supported by way of fandom and familiarity.
Plus if Musk needs to present Rogan a display, he may simply host it on X anyway!
It’s additionally most probably that Fox Information wouldn’t be too delighted with a brand new cable channel, subsidized by way of the sector’s richest guy and supported by way of participants of the Trump circle of relatives, taking goal at its personal core audience with extra right-leaning programming.
Possibly Musk would imagine bringing again Dev Null, the primary (and to at the present time simplest) cable information host who was once additionally a computer-generated persona (created by way of Leo Laporte), who used to banter with Soledad O’Brien at the authentic MSNBC program The Web site.
