Overview

• Reports cite a person familiar with Bezos’s thinking saying he is weighing a bid for CNBC once it joins the publicly traded company Versant later this year.
• Comcast insiders insist that Bezos has not reached out and that Versant plans to grow CNBC rather than sell it.
• A source aligned with Bezos denies any plans to pursue the acquisition, calling the reports entirely false.
• CNBC and other NBCUniversal cable assets are on track to form Versant by the end of 2025 after generating about $7 billion in revenue last year.
• Versant faces a two-year prohibition on major asset sales post spin-off without incurring significant tax consequences.