Virgin to be sold?

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by cimt

It's the channels that may be up for sale.

DOH!!

[v0id]

Originally Posted by Gary L

It's only worth that much because of Branson. if I was Ricky I'd ask for a cut seens as they tricked him just to get a better price.

He'd get a rather large cut anyway, as he's a major shareholder ;0

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by jamsh

This is from The Telegraph -

Virgin Media, the New York-listed but British-based group, has instructed Goldman Sachs to conduct a review of its content business and a sale is seen by analysts as the most likely option.

A sale has been on the cards for over a year now, and nothing has happened (yet).

[webcrawler2050]

I think if they did sell, to the right company / person. It may be a turning point, that person / company might have enough money to get VM out of debt & inject some vital cash into the network, which in theory means less Traffic Management

[lostandconfused]

Originally Posted by webcrawler2050

I think if they did sell, to the right company / person. It may be a turning point, that person / company might have enough money to get VM out of debt & inject some vital cash into the network, which in theory means less Traffic Management

I would hope so, but no-one is going to pump £6bn into a company, that barely makes a profit each year, it would probably take decades to recoup the money, so doesnt make a decent return.

I think that there will always be traffic management, no matter what the financial state of the company is. VM broadband will always be a condended service, and there will always be people that will always be people that have a negative impact on the network because of their downloading habbits.

[slowcoach]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

I would hope so, but no-one is going to pump £6bn into a company, that barely makes a profit each year, it would probably take decades to recoup the money, so doesnt make a decent return.

£11bn including debts.

[tvtimes]

Originally Posted by cimt

Why doesn't that suprise me?

Hilarious isn't it? Sky say it's not even worth £5m when it comes to negotiations yet they would like to buy it when it's valued at something like £800m!

[logo]

Originally Posted by slowcoach

£11bn including debts.

But assets of £19bn

[webcrawler2050]

I dont think they will sell - if I owned VM and sold it - I would be gutted to a certain extent. To say you own Virgin Media is some achievment!

[tvtimes]

Originally Posted by webcrawler2050

I dont think they will sell - if I owned VM and sold it - I would be gutted to a certain extent. To say you own Virgin Media is some achievment!

To say you own Sky is an even bigger achievement!

[webcrawler2050]

Originally Posted by tvtimes

To say you own Sky is an even bigger achievement!

Yeah, true, true!

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by tvtimes

To say you own Sky is an even bigger achievement!

Originally Posted by webcrawler2050

Yeah, true, true!

Yeah but to say you own Sky you are also admitting to be a "Murdoch"

[tvtimes]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

Yeah but to say you own Sky you are also admitting to be a "Murdoch"

Lol Touche! Good point!

[m419]

Perfect buyers:

Comcast: Comcast shared some light on it but was hesitant,they said the UK has too much competition. Comcast has already had shares in Cable franchises in the UK which NTL bought and eventually fell into Telewest's hands and then back to NTL in 2006. Comcast currently owns E! and several other TV channels most of which we don't get yet in the UK.

Verizon: Verizon formerly BellAtlantic or Bellcable Media and Nynex in the UK, Verizon acquired MCI Worldcom globally and already have a telecoms infrastructure here in the UK. Acquiring Virgin Media would allow Verizon to have a Residential base,Small business base and also be able to provide business mobile telephony and Cable internet to its existing Business customers.

Cable and Wireless: Would allow the company to retrieve back a residential and small business customer base and would be able to offer Cable internet to its existing business customers. Cable and Wireless would definately continue to use existing Virgin and NTL:Telewest business brands and thats what Virgin Enterprises want! Although France Telecom are after Cable and Wireless, so if Cable and Wireless did acquire Virgin Media and France Telecom acquires Cable and Wireless, then we would probably see everything be rebranded to Orange! How does Orange Media sound???

Under Virgin Media:
This would be the Residential and TV station base for Cable and Wireless

Under NTL:Telewest Business:
This would be the small business base for Cable and Wireless

Under Cable and Wireless UK:
This would be the parent company of Virgin Media and would be the customer base of the large business customers.

Benefits to the customer if C&W or Verizon acquire the Virgin Media?
Well cheaper phone calls! Since C&W and Verizon are international networks, phone calls made internationally can become cheaper. Also,the national telephone network would be managed by the parent companies saving even more money. Also UK based calls are often routed over networks such C&W and these extra charges would no longer happen as everything would be treated as in-house.

But I would hate it if private equity firms took over as they are there for the profit only and never put customers first!

[Cobbydaler]

Originally Posted by m419

Perfect buyers:

Comcast: Comcast shared some light on it but was hesitant,they said the UK has too much competition. Comcast has already had shares in Cable franchises in the UK which NTL bought and eventually fell into Telewest's hands and then back to NTL in 2006. Comcast currently owns E! and several other TV channels most of which we don't get yet in the UK.

Verizon: Verizon formerly BellAtlantic or Bellcable Media and Nynex in the UK, Verizon acquired MCI Worldcom globally and already have a telecoms infrastructure here in the UK. Acquiring Virgin Media would allow Verizon to have a Residential base,Small business base and also be able to provide business mobile telephony and Cable internet to its existing Business customers.

Cable and Wireless: Would allow the company to retrieve back a residential and small business customer base and would be able to offer Cable internet to its existing business customers. Cable and Wireless would definately continue to use existing Virgin and NTL:Telewest business brands and thats what Virgin Enterprises want! Although France Telecom are after Cable and Wireless, so if Cable and Wireless did acquire Virgin Media and France Telecom acquires Cable and Wireless, then we would probably see everything be rebranded to Orange! How does Orange Media sound???

Under Virgin Media:
This would be the Residential and TV station base for Cable and Wireless

Under NTL:Telewest Business:
This would be the small business base for Cable and Wireless

Under Cable and Wireless UK:
This would be the parent company of Virgin Media and would be the customer base of the large business customers.

Benefits to the customer if C&W or Verizon acquire the Virgin Media?
Well cheaper phone calls! Since C&W and Verizon are international networks, phone calls made internationally can become cheaper. Also,the national telephone network would be managed by the parent companies saving even more money. Also UK based calls are often routed over networks such C&W and these extra charges would no longer happen as everything would be treated as in-house.

But I would hate it if private equity firms took over as they are there for the profit only and never put customers first!

[cynic] You really think any business would pass such savings on to it's customers? [/cynic]