Comcast said Monday it will separate its media and connectivity businesses, dismantling its long-held strategy of owning both the content it produces and the distribution networks that deliver it. Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh, who will lead NBCUniversal as a standalone company, said the split comes as the competitive landscape across both media and telecom has intensified.
“That pace of change continues to accelerate, and so, we simply don’t see these conditions changing anytime soon,” Cavanagh said in a call with analysts. “Where we previously believed that scale and the diversification benefits warranted operating these businesses as one company, we’ve now simply changed our mind about that.”
CEO Brian Roberts said the company considered three questions during its internal discussions: Can each business stand alone? Does each have a clear capital allocation path to invest? Is now the right time? The answer was “yes to all accounts,” Roberts said, in large part because both companies have the right assets to “succeed and scale as standalone companies.”
Comcast began as a community antenna business and has evolved into a technology company centered on broadband, business services, wireless and connectivity solutions, Roberts said. “The demand for connectivity has never been greater, and the role our networks play in people’s lives, businesses and the broader economy continues to expand,” he said.
The split also reflects a shift in how Comcast views the media landscape since it bought NBCUniversal more than 15 years ago, Roberts said. “At that time, the cable networks were widely viewed as the center of value creation,” he said. The investments made since then, including in studios, theme parks and sports, positioned NBCUniversal as a leader in many growth areas. “As an independent company, NBCUniversal will have even greater flexibility to invest behind its strongest opportunities, expand partnerships and compete with greater agility,” Roberts said.
Comcast shares rose 7% to 8% on the news. Benchmark analyst Matthew Harrigan said in a research note that the gain “only modestly reflects the eventual potential value for the standalone companies.” He said the split is “especially desirable in assigning fairer immediate value” to the studio and parks businesses.
In other market news, Warner Bros. Discovery’s “Supergirl” earned $38 million in its U.S. opening weekend, falling short of already muted expectations, Harrigan said. The film would need to gross about $450 million to $500 million globally to break even, but now appears likely to finish below $200 million, the analyst said, citing weak ratings on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes. Harrigan said the casting of Australian actress Milly Alcock drew negative reactions among some fans, and noted that “superhero movies are notoriously sensitive to bad casting decisions.”
Truist Securities analysts said they are fielding more questions about space-based data centers, likely spurred by SpaceX’s recent stock market debut. The analysts said the concept could become feasible “toward the middle or later part of the next decade” but does not present a near-term threat to companies like Equinix and Digital Realty Trust given current demand strength. They said space-based centers could complement terrestrial data centers by taking on “more power-intense training and in-orbit-generated data.”
Tech investor Prosus beat fiscal 2026 expectations, ING analyst Marc Hesselink said, citing a strong performance from its iFood food-delivery unit in Latin America. Revenue exceeded consensus by 7%. Prosus shares rose 3.6%.
STMicroelectronics shares rose 3.6% in both Paris and Milan, and New York-listed shares gained 3.4% premarket, after Barclays analysts said the chip maker’s revenue outlook is improving. Barclays forecast that AI-related revenues will more than double to 2.3 billion euros in 2027, up from 1 billion euros in 2026, and said satellite revenue could rise about 50% to 1.3 billion euros over the same period. “Conceivably there is upside potential to these estimates,” the analysts wrote.