What is the Comcast Takeover of Disney Really About?

Hostile takeovers always tell us something important about the direction of a market or industry. They often seem to unfold as dramas of one aggressive company with a vision of the future going after a passive target chugging along in the present. Witness the era of hostile takeovers in the '80s, defined by private-equity buccaneers intent on creating a leaner, meaner corporate world. Costs were wrung from businesses like water from a wet sponge.

Now comes Comcast's (CMCSA ) $66 billion bid on Feb. 11 for media powerhouse Disney (DIS ), and a similar tug between the present and the future is playing out again. Only this time, the vision of the future is a bit more subtle than it was in the '80s. It's less about synergy and cost-cutting than it is about how companies produce growth in a low-cost, high-output environment.

This battle isn't about barbarians crashing the gates of Corporate America. It's about how Comcast, having taken the TV-distribution business about as far as it can go, builds a new model for both communications and media.

This is one that economic developers should be paing attention to!

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