Disney Makes Deal for 21st Century Fox, Reshaping Entertainment Landscape
- by Ricky Curtis
- in Money
- — Dec 14, 2017
(DIS) in a deal that valued at about $52.4 billion. 21st Century Fox will separate these into a newly listed company that will be spun off to its shareholders.
If the deal is closed, the purchase would be one of the largest media deals in recent years.
In the USA, the widely-anticipated deal will bring together the 20th Century Fox film studio known for hits such as Avatar and Ice Age with Disney's film assets including Pixar, Marvel and LucasFilm's Star Wars franchise.
Alongside the $52.4bn sum, Disney will also assume approximately $13.7bn of net debt from Fox, taking the valuation of the total transaction up to over $66bn.
Either way, if Disney ultimately inherits the Sky stake after the CMA has blocked the deal now being pursued by the Murdochs, Disney can simply use the 39% shareholding to launch another full bid for Sky. As expected, Disney CEO Robert Iger has also announced his intent to remain Chairman and CEO of Disney as part of the deal through 2021, instead of retiring in 2019 as previously planned.
The combination solidifies Disney's position as the world's biggest traditional media company, bringing Fox's popular X-Men, Deadpool and "Planet of the Apes" franchises to a company that is already home to Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar's stable of animated films.
Walt Disney Co shares fell $0.06 (-0.06%) in premarket trading Thursday.
The entertainment business is going through big changes. "I'm grateful and encouraged that Bob has agreed to stay on, and is committed to succeeding with a combined team that is second to none".
The sale includes Fox's 39% stake in Sky, the owner of Sky News. One analyst said the sale was a sign that the Murdochs see the challenges that the entertainment industry has been dealing with, particularly cord cutting and competition from streaming video services, as increasingly hard to address. In the deal, it acquires Fox's rights to some Marvel movies and Avatar sequels as it gears up to launch a streaming video service meant to compete with Netflix and Amazon.
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