In April 2022, shares in Twitter Inc. soared after a securities filing revealed that Elon Musk had acquired a multi-billion dollar stake in the company. What followed over the course of the next few months is now the stuff of internet legend: Musk would go on to cut a deal to acquire all of Twitter for $44 billion, before trying to back out of the deal, and then finally following through.
He subsequently hired NBCUniversal’s former head of advertising sales, Linda Yaccarino, to be Twitter’s CEO, and then changed the brand to “X,” saying that it would become an everything app, and the home of free speech on the internet.
Now, Musk has been on a posting spree about MSNBC, the left-leaning cable channel that is owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal. Musk, who has posted about MSNBC nearly every day for a week, has been suggesting that he wants to buy the channel.
So Is MSNBC For Sale?
No, MSNBC is not for sale.
A Comcast spokesperson says: “We are looking forward to the planned spin of our cable networks, which will create a new company owned by our shareholders – none of these assets are for sale.”
Why Is Everyone Talking About It Being Up For Sale Then?
As alluded to in the statement, Comcast, the cable giant that owns NBCUniversal, announced a major spinoff of its cable channels last week, including USA, Syfy, E!, Oxygen, CNBC and, yes, MSNBC. The way it’s going to work is that in roughly a year, the new company (called “SpinCo” for now) will be spun out from Comcast, but existing Comcast shareholders will be shareholders. Just as Brian Roberts and the Roberts family own about a third of Comcast, they will own the same amount of SpinCo.
The company is hoping that a standalone cable company can be more strategic, pursuing M&A deals or other ventures that are challenging to do as part of the larger company. “The company will have significant cash flow, a strong balance sheet, and the financial flexibility to pursue growth opportunities, both organically and potentially through acquisitions,” Comcast president Mike Cavanagh said in a memo to staff announcing the spin.
Would They Sell Off MSNBC Once The Spin Off Is Complete?
Don’t count on it.
MSNBC, like all cable channels, has been grappling with cord-cutting, viewership declines, and the larger issues facing both cable news channels and cable writ large.
If MSNBC were severed from the rest of the cable channels, it would be dramatically harder to ink distribution deals that comprise essentially all of MSNBC’s profits. There is hope that under the new structure, SpinCo could be in a situation to invest in MSNBC, and figure out a path forward given the larger industry declines.
There are also some other complicating factors (see below).
Couldn’t Musk Just Buy The Entire New Company?
Unlikely! It would be difficult, time-consuming and expensive. Because the new company will have such centralized control in the Roberts family, it would be very difficult to do a deal without their buy-in. And either way, it would be very expensive, requiring a hefty premium on its market cap.
And of course, the deal is being structured as a tax-free spinoff, a structure that means that large scale M&A cannot be done for at least two years in order to retain its tax-free status. That would make any deal extremely difficult in the medium term, without causing a major tax headache for shareholders.
Why Is Elon So Interested in MSNBC Anyway?
Musk has been critical of MSNBC for years, attacking segments or comments from hosts. The current news cycle seems to originate from a meme shared by Donald Trump Jr., which suggested (again, wrongly) that the channel is being put up for sale, and adding “Hey @elonmusk I have the funniest idea ever!!!”
The popular comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan even jumped in, with a joking offer to take Rachel Maddow’s job if Musk was successful. Maddow, it should be noted, recently signed a new long-term deal with MSNBC, giving the channel some security that its marquee talent will stick around even after the spinout is complete
Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has been sharply critical of all news coverage, frequently declaring to users of X that “you are the media now” and encouraging them to “forward X posts” to their friends and family.
Musk also has some personal issues with both Microsoft and its founder, Bill Gates, which may play a role.
Of course, Microsoft exited its stake in MSNBC back in 2012. The “MS” in MSNBC is like an appendix, a vestige of the past that doesn’t have any particular meaning in the present beyond being a part of the brand itself.
Wait, What Personal Animus With Bill Gates?
Musk runs an artificial intelligence company called xAI, and he has been very vocal and critical of OpenAI — which he was involved in from its founding — and OpenAI’s deal with Microsoft. Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, and named Microsoft as a defendant.
In addition, Musk previously had a personal beef with Gates, stemming from when the Microsoft founder took a large short position in Tesla (a short is when you bet that the value of a stock goes down). So the personal animus vis a vie Gates and OpenAI, paired with a real financial incentive with xAI, could perhaps be at play there.
Didn’t He End Up Buying Twitter After Hinting That He Wanted To?
He sure did, but not without a fight! Musk and Twitter very nearly went to court in Delaware, before he acquiesced and closed the deal.
While Musk is the richest man in the world (his net worth is nearly $350 billion as of writing as of writing), he doesn’t just have that much cash stashed under his bed (or even in Dogecoin). Most of his wealth is tied up in Tesla and SpaceX stock. He can’t sell Tesla stock without causing it to go lower, and SpaceX is private, making a sale inconvenient and difficult.
For the Twitter deal, Musk sought outside financiers and took out a margin loan, secured by Tesla stock. It is not clear that he would be able to extend his margin loan to cover another multi-billion dollar deal.
If, Somehow, Someway, Musk Successfully Acquired MSNBC, What Would He Even Do?
Twitter was and still is a platform that newsmakers, powerful people, politicians, celebrities and news media gather to talk about things, and platform dynamics mean that even as Musk has saturated it with users more accustomed to memes and trolling, the number of castaways seems to remain relatively limited.
Cable news is an entirely different business.
While returning Joe Rogan to the NBC family would likely be a ratings draw (just like the Rogan-hosted NBC reality competition series Fear Factor was, back in the day), blowing up MSNBC’s lineup would likely cause its current viewers to flee. Unlike a social platform powered by platform dynamics, a TV channel is supported by fandom and familiarity.
Plus if Musk wants to give Rogan a show, he could just host it on X anyway!
It’s also likely that Fox News wouldn’t be too thrilled with a new cable channel, backed by the world’s richest man and supported by members of the Trump family, taking aim at its own core viewers with more right-leaning programming.
Maybe Musk would consider bringing back Dev Null, the first (and to this day only) cable news host who was also a computer-generated character (created by Leo Laporte), who used to banter with Soledad O’Brien on the original MSNBC program The Site.
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