A week after it was reported that he met with his ViacomCBS equal, Shari Redstone, to discuss some kind of deal, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts shot down the notion his company is interested in wholesale acquisition or sale.
"We don't need M&A," Roberts told equity analysts Thursday during Comcast's third-quarter earnings call. "I really love the company we’ve got."
Roberts made his comments as Comcast soundly beat second-quarter analysts' consensus forecasts, adding 354,000 broadband users, and increasing revenue by 11% to $16 billion, among other strong metrics.
Notably, with the ongoing Tokyo Olympics finally in full swing--the event that was originally supposed to propel NBCU's streaming service, Peacock, to growth when it first launched 54 weeks ago--Comcast said it's up to 54 million signups and 20 million active users. Peacock is poised to begin its international rollout later this year as a free addition on the Sky satellite TV service in Europe, which Comcast owns.
“If you look at the results of Peacock this quarter, we're the fastest growing streaming service," Roberts said, noting the Peacock brand is only a year old.
"I can’t imagine a better quarter, an exceptional quarter, and I believe we have much more organic growth ahead. We have a unique company with content and distribution working so well together," Roberts added.
He said Comcast might consider a partnership to enhance its global streaming position. But as far as adding scale, Roberts noted, "We have all the parts."
Notably, the discussions with ViacomCBS chief Shari Redstone reportedly involve an overseas partnership revolving around streaming.
