COMCAST CORP CMCSA → Versant Media Group, Inc. VSNT
| Parent | COMCAST CORP CMCSA |
|---|---|
| Spinco | Versant Media Group, Inc. VSNT |
| Status | Completed |
| Structure | Spin-off A filing states a pro-rata distribution: holders receive shares automatically. |
| Focus | Focus-increasing Parent and spinco operate in different industries — the class the research associates with stronger post-separation returns. |
| Ratio | 1 Versant share for every 25 Comcast shares |
| Ratio note | Dual class, distributed class-for-class: Comcast Class A holders received Versant Class A and Comcast Class B holders received Versant Class B, both at 1-for-25. Fractional shares were settled in cash. |
| Checked against EDGAR | 2026-08-21 |
Data trap
Comcast's reported results included the Versant cable networks through 2025. Comparisons of CMCSA revenue or margin across the 2026-01-02 separation are not like-for-like until the first restated filing.
The restated filings have landed; this is kept as history.
Catalyst clock
- 2024-11-20Separation announced
- 2025-09-18Form 10 filed
- 2025-12-03Form 10 last amended
- —Form 10 effective
- 2025-12-16Record date
- —When-issued trading opens
- 2026-01-02Distribution
- 2026-03-03First standalone earnings
- —Index inclusion announced
Performance since separation
| Versant Media Group, Inc. since separation | -4.49% |
|---|---|
| COMCAST CORP over the same window | -2.96% |
| S&P 500 (SPY) over the same window | +12.08% |
| Russell 2000 (IWM) over the same window | +20.57% |
| Excess over the S&P 500 | -16.57% |
| Excess over the Russell 2000 | -25.06% |
Measured from the first regular-way close on or after the distribution — 2026-01-05 at 40.57 — to 2026-08-21 at 38.75. Window: 8 months. The 2026-01-02 session was skipped: it traded on when-issued volume, not regular-way, and pricing from it would measure the return against a market that no longer existed the next day. Two benchmarks, because one is misleading: spin-offs are usually small companies, and across this period small caps lagged the S&P by several points a year on their own. Measured against the S&P alone, roughly a third of any shortfall is company size rather than the separation. Returns are arithmetic over end-of-day closing prices. Unlike every other figure on this page, they do not come from a filing.
Pre-distribution investor return
| Parent, announcement to separation | -34.87% |
|---|---|
| Combined (COMCAST CORP + Versant Media Group, Inc.), pre-distribution to now | +1.43% |
| Combined excess over the S&P 500 | -10.86% |
| Combined excess over the Russell 2000 | -20.43% |
Combined treats a pre-spin holding as 1 Versant share for every 25 Comcast shares valued at the parent's last close before regular post-spin trading resumed — 2025-12-31 at 28.00 — against that same basket today. That baseline is a practical proxy, not an attempt to isolate exactly how much value the separation transferred: for a large parent and a small spinco, ordinary day-to-day price noise can be bigger than the transfer itself. Run-up measures only the parent's own price, from the announcement date to that same baseline — how far the market had already moved before the separation's mechanics ever happened.
Filings
Every fact on this page comes from one of these.
- 10-12Bfiled 2025-09-18 · 0001193125-25-207527Initial Form 10 registration statement
- 10-12B/Afiled 2025-12-03 · 0001193125-25-306792Final amendment; Ex-99.1 information statement carries the 1-for-25 ratio and the December 16 record date
- 8-Kfiled 2026-01-05 · 0000950103-26-000080Items 2.01 and 5.01 — Ex-99.1 states the distribution completed after the close of trading on January 2, 2026
Notes
Distribution completed after the close on 2026-01-02, so the first regular-way session for VSNT was the next trading day. Focus classification left unclassified on purpose: both legs sit in 2-digit SIC 48 (communications), which would score non-focus-increasing, but the split separates declining cable networks from the growth business — a judgement call that needs a human, not a SIC match. Classified focus_increasing: the Form 10 splits Versant's cable networks and digital platforms (MS NOW, CNBC, USA Network, Golf Channel, Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes) from Comcast's retained broadband, wireless, streaming, studios and theme parks — the SIC codes agree (both sit in communications) but the filing's own strategic framing does not, the exact pattern this site's own methodology exists to catch. Versant was levered up specifically to fund a $2.25 billion special cash payment to Comcast, financed by roughly $3 billion in new debt.