After it was announced Comcast plans to separate MSNBC and several other cable channels into their own company called “SpinCo,” billionaire Elon Musk—the owner of X, formerly Twitter—”joked” about buying it.
Comcast plans to spin off its NBCUniversal cable television division as the traditional TV industry grapples with challenges from streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The newly announced company will include channels such as MSNBC, CNBC, USA, E!, Syfy, and the Golf Channel. Despite the shifting media environment, these networks remain profitable, collectively generating $7 billion in revenue over the past year ending in September.
Comcast will retain ownership of the NBC broadcast network, its film and television studios, theme parks, and the Peacock streaming platform.
But there’s no indication MSNBC is up for sale, not that that’s stopped Musk from weighing in.
It all started when Donald Trump Jr., the eldest Trump scion, shared a meme about MSNBC being up for sale and tagged Musk, who responded:
“How much does it cost?”
Conservative podcaster Joe Rogan even weighed in, saying he wants “Rachael [sic] Maddow’s job” if Musk buys the network.
A few days later, Musk shared the following crass meme showing “Elon Musk trying not to buy” MSNBC along with the following caption:
“And lead us not into temptation …”
But liberals were not amused, noting the threats such a purchase would pose to the national information environment.
Musk’s interaction with Trump Jr. mirrors a 2017 exchange with a social media user who suggested he buy Twitter.
“How much is it?” Musk asked in December 2017. Five years later, in 2022, he acquired the platform—later rebranded as X—for $44 billion.
Since then, he has repeatedly justified the purchase, saying that Twitter needs to go private if it wants to become a platform for free speech, though he has repeatedly come under fire for silencing his critics and spreading misinformation.
CNN’s Brian Stetler, addressing the potential of Musk following through, noted that “contrary to claims that Trump’s allies are posting on X, Comcast has not put a “for sale” sign on MSNBC’s door.”
Upon speaking with sources, he “learned that more than one benevolent billionaire with liberal bonafides has already reached out to acquaintances at MSNBC to express interest in buying the cable channel.” Sources were reassured, Stetler, reported, “since it showed that oppositional figures like Musk (who famously bought Twitter to blow it up) would not be the only potential suitors.”
Stetler also reported that “‘SpinCo’ executives may well conclude that offloading MSNBC is not in the best interest of shareholders, since the channel’s loyal audience is a form of leverage in negotiations with cable distributors.”
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