Disney News

Tag: merger

  • Disney, 21st Century Fox Shareholders Vote to Approve $71.3 Billion Merger

    Disney, 21st Century Fox Shareholders Vote to Approve $71.3 Billion Merger

    Disney’s acquisition of fox is nearly complete. Friday, shareholders approve Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox entertainment assets.

    The tie-up brings together Marvel’s X-Men and Avengers franchises and creates an entertainment behemoth in the digital streaming era. The shareholder vote caps a saga that began in December 2017, when Disney made its first offer for part of Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate. It kicked off a bidding war with Comcast, which dropped out last week focus on attempted buyout of the European pay-TV operator Sky.

    The Fox deal will help Disney compete with technology players like Amazon and Netflix. The agreement is not expected to close for several months and still requires regulatory approvals.

    Source: AP

  • Disney Wins U.S. Approval for Fox Deal, Putting Comcast On The Ropes

    Disney Wins U.S. Approval for Fox Deal, Putting Comcast On The Ropes

    It’s not a knockout yet, but Disney has dealt a big blow to Comcast for a potential rival bid in the Fox deal. Walt Disney Co. has just won U.S. antitrust approval for its $71 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainment assets.

    In order to secure Justice Department approval of its acquisition of major 21st Century Fox assets, Disney has agreed to sell off Fox’s 22 regional sports networks.

    The Justice Department on Wednesday filed a complaint in federal court seeking to block Disney from acquiring the regional sports networks arguing that Disney’s ownership of the national sports powerhouse ESPN created anti-competitive conflicts, but announced a settlement agreement with Disney that calls for the divestitures.

    “American consumers have benefitted from head-to-head competition between Disney and Fox’s cable sports programming that ultimately has prevented cable television subscription prices from rising even higher,” said Delrahim, assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s settlement will ensure that sports programming competition is preserved in the local markets where Disney and Fox compete for cable and satellite distribution.”

    The DOJ’s sign off on Disney’s $71.3 billion transaction on Wednesday is a big hurdle for rival Comcast in the battle to acquire the major portion of Rupert Murdoch’s TV and film empire.

    Fox last week accepted a sweetened bid from Disney, after the two media juggernauts had been going head to head with a $65 billion offer coming from Comcast about two weeks ago, nearly six months after Disney initially bid $52.4 billion for Fox in December. The $38-a-share price is about $10 a share higher than what Disney offered in December — and $3 above Comcast’s bid.

    The fight is definitely not over. Comcast is expected to respond with yet another offer, amid reports it is reaching out to potential acquisition partners if the bidding should climb as high as $90 billion. Analysts have speculated the Fox assets could fetch as much as $42-$43 a share.

    The bidding war was expected as the two media giants battle over Fox’s movie production business as well as FX, NatGeo, Fox’s 30 percent stake in Hulu and its international assets, including Star India and its 39 percent stake in European pay TV giant Sky. 21st Century Fox is the next big prize as the media industry consolidates to survive against competitors like Netflix.

  • Comcast Challenging Disney For Fox Assets With Estimated $60 Billion Bid

    Comcast Challenging Disney For Fox Assets With Estimated $60 Billion Bid

    You may want to get some pop corn and get ready to watch the show, because the battle for Fox isn’t over. Comcast is jumping back into the race for Fox with Estimated $60 Billion offer.

    On Wednesday, Comcast confirmed that it’s in the “advanced stages” of making an offer. The company provided very few details other than it would it be an all-cash offer. Disney offered Fox a $52.4 billion all-stock deal late last year, and shareholders are expected to vote on the offer this summer. Comcast is hoping to sneak in with this all-cash offer ahead of that vote.

    Last year, even though it exceeded Disney’s offer, Fox’s board rejected Comcast’s original bid, because they believed it was more risky with regulators to get approval. Now it seems that another major deal — Time Warner and AT&T — might actually go through. If it does, Comcast could potentially acquire parts of Fox without alarming regulators.

    The Fox assets — which range from international pay-TV distribution to cable networks and a stake in streaming giant Hulu — are some of the most-prized entertainment properties likely to come on the market for some time, and the Murdoch family’s willingness to sell these assets has come as a surprise to many in the media industry.

    The rare acquisition opportunity, combined with the need to significantly expand overseas and acquire new distribution and content, is adding a dimension of urgency for both Comcast and Disney.

  • Disney Filing Discloses Fox’s Reasons For Rejecting Comcast Bid

    Disney Filing Discloses Fox’s Reasons For Rejecting Comcast Bid

    In a filing made by Walt Disney Co with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, in their efforts to acquire Fox’s film and TV assets, we now know Fox’s reasons for rejecting Comcast’s offer.

    Walt Disney Co announced the purchased most of 21st Century Fox’s assets back in December in a deal worth $52.4 billion. At the time it was well-known that Comcast Corp had also been bidding on the assets, but they eventually bowed out.

    In documents filed with the SEC today, Disney disclosed Fox’s reasons for rejecting the rival offer without disclosing the bidder.

    The documents state that Fox rejected a deal with another entity — that multiple sources have identified as Comcast Corp — due to higher regulatory risks.