Comcast has officially completed its separation from the new Versant Media, ending Comcast’s ownership of a wealth of news and cable networks.
After being confirmed by the board late last year, Comcast said this morning that Versant had become a separate public company effective 11.59 p.m. ET (8.59 p.m. PT) on January 2. Comcast shareholders received one share of Versant Class A common stock or Versant Class B common stock for every 25 shares of Comcast Class A common stock or Comcast Class B common stock, respectively, held at the close of business on December 16, 2025, while the distribution of Versant shares occurred after the close of trading on Nasdaq on January 2, 2026, Comcast said.
Versant immediately sent out a release saying that the new company had commence trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol VSNT.
“Today marks a defining moment as Versant becomes an independent, publicly traded media company,” said CEO Mark Lazarus. “As a standalone company, we enter the market with the scale, strategy and leadership to grow and evolve our business model.”
Anand Kini, Versant’s Chief Operating Officer and CFO, said the new company kicks off with a “strong balance sheet, substantial cash flow, and clear capital allocation framework.”
The historic spin-off has seen Comcast retain the likes of NBC, Telemundo, Universal, Peacock and Sky. Versant, meanwhile, runs cable and news networks like CNBC, the newly-renamed MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E! and SYFY, along with Rotten Tomatoes.
The move, first floated in late 2024, is reflective of where the industry sits with regards cable and news. Warner Bros. Discovery, which could soon be owned by Netflix, is doing a similar thing by separating its movie studio, HBO and streaming from cable networks. The networks will be housed in a new Discovery Global company, which Netflix will not be buying if the deal completes.
