BusinessWeek Online reported that on February 16th, Disney's board unanimously rejected the $48 billion offer from Comcast.

In its release, the board said it was refusing the bid because the proposed stock merger valued Disney at $3.60 less than the current price of a Disney share. It is not expected that this will be Comcast's last attempt at on offer. They feel as though Disney lost support from shareholders when Pixar ended it's 12-year relationship with the company in January. Moreover, Disney Chairman Michael D. Eisner faces a compaign aimed at his ouster by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold.

Disney was initially valued at $56 billion, but their stock shot up by 14%, while Comcast's fell by 6%. What is the market trying to say about this deal? Comcast's decision to make the offer seemed to be out of fear of competition from other media companies, however, CEO Brian Roberts "said Comcast has given guidance of strong growth and that it saw the ability to help boost performance at Disney's struggling ABC-TV network and its animation unit".