Business Analysis of Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest cable company in the United States. Comcast develops broadband cable networks and are involved in electronic retailing and television programming content.
Comcast was founded in 1963 by Ralph J. Roberts, Daniel Aaron, and Julian A. Brodsky in Tupelo, Mississippi. Entrepreneurs who transformed Comcast from a small cable company to a massive corporation that employs over 68,000 people. Of course, with mergers as well as buying other companies, they were taking a great risk. Their risk taking has been a proven success. The company was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1969 under the name Comcast Corporation from American Cable Systems. Over the next 30 years, Comcast grows to become the well-known company it is today. Moving into the area of programming content, Comcast became majority owner of Comcast-Spectacor, Comcast SportsNet (In Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington/Baltimore area), and E! Entertainment Television and Style Network, G4, The Golf Channel and the Outdoor Life Network over a period of years.
The UK division was sold to NTL (National Transcommunications Limited) in 1998, a European cable/cellular company. After the sale of their cellular division to SBC Communications of San Antonio and the acquisition of Greater Philadelphia Cablevision in 1999, Comcast and MediaOne announced a $60 billion merger, which occurred three years later. In 2001, Comcast announced they would acquire the assets of AT&T Broadband (AT&T’s cable TV service). In 2002 Comcast acquired all assets of AT&T Broadband, thus making Comcast the largest cable television company in the United States. In 2002, Comcast paid the University of Maryland an undisclosed amount for naming rights to the new basketball arena built on the campus, named Comcast Center.
In staying competitive with other companies, Comcast has always tried to have the advantage by offering the latest technology. In 2001, Comcast launched HDTV (High Definition Television). HDTV is a form that provides crystal-clear quality wide-screen pictures with compact disc-quality surround sound. The aspect ratio of HDTV pictures is 16:9 as opposed to today’s 4:3 format. Comcast also launched Video-On-Demand service (VOD) in 2001. VOD, which is now simply called On Demand, allows one to play news, TV progra...
... middle of paper ...
...t losses of affiliates (22) (27) (88) (60)
Other income 312 11 394 71
74 (132) (1,098) (2,091)
Income (Loss) from Continuing
Operations before Income Taxes
and Minority Interest 785 610 1,810 (137)
Income tax (expense) benefit (360) (215) (826) 16
Income (Loss) from Continuing
Operations Before Minority Interest 425 395 984 (121)
Minority interest (2) (12) (14) (97)
Income (Loss) from Continuing
Operations 423 383 970 (218)
Income from discontinued
operations, net of tax (1) - - - 168
Gain on discontinued
operations, net of tax (1) - - - 3,290
Net Income $423 $383 $970 $3,240
Diluted earnings (loss)
per common share
Income (loss) from continuing
operations $0.19 $0.17 $0.43 ($0.10)
Income from discontinued
operations - - - 0.08
Gain on discontinued operations - - - 1.46
Net Income per common share $0.19 $0.17 $0.43 $1.44
Diluted weighted average number of
common shares outstanding 2,228 2,269 2,250 2,256
1) On September 17, 2003, the Company completed the sale of its
approximate 57% interest in QVC, Inc. Accordingly, the results of QVC
are presented as discontinued operations.
REFERENCE
Comcast Website – www.comcast.net
At the beginning, he spent seven years as an executive at the cable & wireless in UK, and was
3. Shaw Direct provides direct-to-home satellite programming to more than 900,000 subscribers - largest in the country
Who owns the “Superstation” and the Atlanta Braves? The television king Robert Edward Turner III who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1938. Turner who was educated at the Georgia Military Academy and Brown Universitey. Turner had a major set back in his life after his dad committed suicide. He inherited the family billboard-advertising business. In 1970 Turner had bought a failing television station in Atlanta, Georgia and by 1975 he had transformed it in to one of the leading stations.. He did this by showing low-cost sports and entertainment programs via satellite to cable systems throughout the country. In 1976 Turner bought the baseball team the Atlanta braves and then the next year he bought the Atlanta Hawks In 1980 Turner invented Cable News Network(CNN) the first 24 hour news station. In 1988 he launched Turner Network Television(TNT). Then in 1991 Turner married the actress Jane Fonda. Turner now at the age of 63 still owns all his companies.
Exxon Mobil is a great example of a corporate giant. It all started in 1870, when JD Rockefeller founded U.S. Standard oil a company that will go on to be the most profitable in the world. In 1911 the company split up into 34 different companies, amongst these companies was Vacuum oil company that will later be called Mobil Oil and Jersey Standard which was renamed to Exxon corporation. In 199 the two companies decided to work together again, this was the birth of Exxon Mobil.
In our internal analysis of the merger between Comcast Corporation and Time Warner Cable (TWC) we looked at the internal strengths and weaknesses of the acquired company. By analyzing these strengths and weaknesses we determined that Comcast Corp. proposal to acquire TWC will have potential benefits. Comcast Corporation is already a giant, owning the nation’s largest cable distribution network and TWC is the second largest cable distributor serving roughly 12 million households. A combination of the two companies is said to generate multiple pro-consumer and pro-competitive benefits (Grimes 1).
Enron Corporation was an American company that specialized in energy commodities and services well known for its impressive rise and scandalous decline. The company was based in Houston, Texas and was formed in July 1985 as a result of Houston Natural Gas merging with InterNorth, an Omaha based company. Kenneth L. Lay, who previously worked as the CEO of Houston Natural Gas, became the chairmen and chief executive of the newly formed Enron in 1986 (Jelveh and Russell, The Rise and Fall of Enron). Enron initially began as an interstate and intrastate natural gas piping company containing 37,500 miles of pipe. The earliest signs of trouble surfaced in January 1987, when the company became aware of...
Television, the phone, and the internet. These inventions have uniquely shaped the 20th century and have led to the 21st century being known as the age of information. These services are the primary ways we communicate, express ourselves, and reach out in our ever increasing global world. In the United States, these services are provided by a number of different firms, chief among them is Comcast, being the largest provider of Cable and internet in America, and a large telephone provider. Next to it stands Time Warner Cable, the second largest provider of cable in the United States. The decision for Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable for forty-five billion dollars in 2014 has led to many criticizing the merger, calling it a monopoly. Others have called the whole cable system an oligopoly. For it to be a monopoly or an oligopoly, it would have to fit their respective categories. The merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable would not create a true monopoly, but would give it significant market power because it has monopoly resources and can be considered a natural monopoly. It will also further its power in a market dominated by oligopolies. People argue that it is not a danger to Americans for this merger to happen, but when one looks at the practices Comcast already uses, it paints
AT&T’s roots stretches all the way back to 1875, when Alexander Graham Bell created the first telephone. The main reason AT&T was created was to exploit the creation of the telephone. AT&T became a parent company to the Bell system, which was a phone company monopoly. They created a long distance telephone network that went from New York to Chicago and then on to San Francisco. Then in 1984 AT&T split into eight different phone companies. They built out to Denver in 1899 and then they hit a rough patch, the signal wasn’t too strong. Luckily, AT&T created the first practical electrical amplifier in 1913. And this made transcontinental communication possible. Bell’s patent expired in 1894 and only Bell telephone could only legally operate in the U.S. The number of telephones grew as phone wires spread across the nation, there where about 3,317,000 phones. The only downside to this early story is that, only phones with the same phone company could contact each other, this was being fixed in 1913. In 1925 there was a new president, Walter Gifford, he sold International Western Electrical Company to the ITT for 33 million to make AT&T universal. In January 1, 1984 was changed and revitalized, it no longer was the bell system. It had a new global icon, as you see today. IN 1984 AT&T carried around 37.5 million calls a day. CEO, Robert Allen, announced that on Septemb...
Verizon Communications Inc. has 13 Board of Directors, 1 CEO, 8 Executive Vice Presidents, 2 Presidents, and 5 Senior Vice Presidents. “Verizon Communications Inc., based in New York City and incorporated in Delaware, was formed on June 30, 2000, with the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. Verizon began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the VZ symbol on Monday, July 3, 2000.” Verizon Communications Inc. is a publicly held Corporation. In this paper I will discuss the corporate roles and duties of a corporation. I will also discuss the differences of a publicly held and Closed corporation. Finally, I will discuss which type of corporation I prefer.
In 1875 AT&T began its company, which was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. Graham had help in forming this global company from two men, Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders financially. Bell being the inventor tried and successfully invented a talking telegraph. In the few years to follow, Bell earned patents and in 1877 the three men formed the Bell Telephone Company to display the new invention, the telephone. In 1878 the first telephone exchange took place under license from Bell Telephone in New Haven, CT. Within the first three years, telephone exchanges existed only in major cities and towns in the United States and operated under the license, American Bell Telephone Company. In 1882, American Bell had interest in control with the Western Electric Company; therefore it became its manufacturing unit. Overtime, American Bell came to own most of its licensees and the enterprise became known as the Bell System. To build and operate the original long distance telephone network, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company was incorporated on March 3, 1885 and was made a fully owned subsidiary of American Bell. The AT&T network was built from New York, where it reached its initial goal of Chicago in 1892, and then San Francisco in 1915. AT&T acquired the assets of American Bell on December 30, 1899 and became the parent company of the Bell System. AT&T was able to be built out to Denver, Colorado due to the inventions of loading coils. Thanks to the first practical electrical amplifiers in 1913, AT&T made international telephony possible. Until Bell's second patent expired in 1894, the United States could legally only operate Bell Telephone systems. After Bell’s second patent expired in 1894 until 1904, over six ...
The soft factors can make or break a successful change process, since new structures and strategies are difficult to build upon inappropriate cultures and values. These problems often come up in the dissatisfying results of spectacular mega-mergers. The lack of success and synergies in such mergers is often based in a clash of completely different cultures, values, and styles, which make it difficult to establish effective common systems and structuresBased on the case study, extensive research and annual reports of AT&T the writer has mapped AT&T in the different domains. AT&T should strive to attain a perfect circle as close to the centre as possible, which indicates total synergy, order and equilibrium. Where the circle is skewed drastic change is needed as it moves closer to the outer ring of chaos:
In 1972, Charles Dolan and Gerald Levin of Sterling Manhattan Cable launched the nation's first pay-TV network, Home Box Office (HBO). This venture led to the creation of a national satellite distribution system that used a newly approved domestic satellite transmission. Satellites changed the business dramatically, paving the way for the explosive growth of program networks.
Verizon was formed by the merger of NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, and GTE, which themselves represent numerous prior Bell Company mergers, and acquisitions of numerous independent Telcos, mostly by GTE. Verizon Domestic Telecom reports to the Vice Chairman, who reports to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Verizon Domestic Telecom is structured in five major components: Enterprise (large Businesses), Finance, Information Technology, Network Services Group, and Retail Markets(Taylor, 2015).
Comcast Cable combines these three premium services into one package. This has allowed Comcast to obtain a positioning of convenience and affordability in the minds of consumers.
Management practices are highly followed in today’s workplace and for good reason since evidence suggests successful companies follow these strict practices. Regulating employees through a program that is setup to promote success is what the five management practices are about. Discussed will be the management practices of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling and how they relate to the corporate environment of Comcast Corporation through my personal experience.