Fox for $52.4 billion to build its TV empire

The rumors that appeared a few days ago have been confirmed, and The Walt Disney Company has stated that it will acquire a significant portion of 21st Century Fox for a price of 52.4 billion dollars. This transaction will bring about changes in the television sector.

This includes the majority of the cable channels produced by the production firm, as well as the studios that are responsible for properties such as X-Men, Avatar, and The Simpsons. However, there are other elements of Fox that are not included, such as Fox Sport and Fox News. Especially considering that Disney is in the process of developing a streaming platform that will directly compete with Netflix or HBO, the transaction poses a threat to the continued existence of Hulu.

Streaming platforms are the next significant threat that Disney faces.
Disney’s catalog for this new television platform has expanded significantly as a result of this agreement. This giant, which has been making increasingly significant acquisitions (including Pixar, LucasFilms, Marvel, ESPN, and Miramax), is positioning itself as one of the major players in the streaming segment, which has been dominated up until this point by Netflix, Amazon, and HBO.

By way of illustration, Disney will become the dominant stakeholder of Hulu as a result of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Previously, Fox held thirty percent of the shares in Hulu. This will make Hulu an unlikely competitor to Disney’s own streaming site, which is anticipated to launch in either 2018 or 2019.

Despite the fact that this service will continue to be able to distribute content from the Marvel and Lucasfilm franchises as part of a multi-year agreement that the two companies reached some time ago, this service will provide users with access to exclusive content from Disney and Pixar that will not be available on Netflix in its current form.

It was announced on December 14, 2017, that The Walt Disney Company would be acquiring 21st Century Fox, and the transaction was finalized on March 20, 2019.(1) [1] Additionally, the transaction includes the film and television studios of 20th Century Fox, cable channels in the United States such as FX and Fox Networks Group, a 73% investment in National Geographic Partners, the Indian television broadcaster Star India, and a 30% ownership in Hulu. These are only some of the important assets that were acquired. The assets that were not included in the transaction were the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business, Fox Sports 1 and 2, Fox Deportes, and the Big Ten Network. On March 19, 2019, two days before the acquisition was finalized, these assets were spun off into a new company that was called Fox Corporation. Several other assets belonging to 21st Century Fox, including the Fox Sports Networks and Sky, were sold to Sinclair and Comcast, respectively, after being divested of their ownership.2 [2]

Rupert Murdoch is the founder of 21st Century Fox, which was established on June 28, 2013, through the separation of entertainment and media holdings from News Corporation. Specifically, it began trading on the NASDAQ and the Australian Securities Exchange on July 1, 2013, with its executives including Rupert Murdoch serving as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. Chase Carey assumed the positions of president and chief operating officer. In 2014, the positions of co-chairman and co-CEO were established, and they were subsequently filled by Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch, both of whom are members of the Murdoch family.[3]:[4]:(5) [5](6) [6]

It was reported by CNBC on November 6, 2017, that The Walt Disney Company was in the process of discussing a deal with Rupert Murdoch to acquire the movie entertainment, cable entertainment, and direct broadcast satellite divisions of 21st Century Fox. These divisions include 20th Century Fox, FX Networks, and National Geographic Partners. There are reports that the Fox Broadcasting firm, the studio lot owned by 20th Century Fox, Fox Television Stations, Fox News Group, and Fox Sports would not be included in the purchase. Instead, these entities would be spun off into a new independent firm that would be managed by the Murdoch family.[7]:

Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, stated that the notion of purchasing the assets of 21st Century Fox came about after Disney had purchased majority control of the streaming business BAMTech. This was done with the intention of developing Disney’s own streaming service, which would eventually be launched as Disney+ in November of 2019. Rather than being interested in 21st Century Fox’s production capabilities, it was more eager to purchase 21st Century Fox’s own film and television libraries in order to assist in expanding the library of the streaming service.[8]:[9] [9] When Rupert Murdoch assumed complete control of 20th Century Fox in 1985, it was the last major studio from the studio period to be acquired. As a result, the film library of the company was mostly intact in comparison to that of its counterparts from the same era, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

When Disney acquired Fox Family Worldwide from the original incarnation of News Corporation in 2001, the two companies had already been conducting business together. The acquisition included a number of assets, such as Saban Entertainment, the international Fox Kids cable networks that were controlled by Fox Family Worldwide, and the Fox Family Channel, which was later rebranded as ABC Family and later Freeform.

The deal would also include 20th Century Fox’s film rights to certain third-party franchises, such as X-Men, Deadpool, and Fantastic Four, the distribution rights to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (which were not owned by Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm respectively when Disney acquired those companies), as well as consolidate ownership of other franchises both share such as Home Alone and give Disney access to adult animation with ownership of The Simpsons (which Disney would fully embrace under the Disney moniker) and Family Guy (which in the following years after the acquisition would break the fourth wall by making inside jokes on what they were allowed to do now that they were owned by Disney).

On November 10, it was reported that the prospected deal had not yet been completely abandoned, despite the fact that talks had ceased for the day without a contract being finalized[10][11].[12] [12] It was announced on November 16 that Comcast, which is the parent company of NBCUniversal, Xfinity, and Comcast Spectacor, as well as Verizon Communications and Sony, which is the parent company of Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, had also joined Disney in a bidding war for 21st Century Fox.[13] [13]It is [14] During a recent meeting of shareholders, Lachlan Murdoch, the co-chairman of 21st Century Fox, stated that the company did not fall into the category of “sub-scale” companies that were “finding it difficult to leverage their positions in new and emerging video platforms.” Instead, he stated that 21st Century Fox was a company that had “the required scale to continue to both execute on our aggressive growth strategy and deliver significant increased returns to shareholders.”[15] [15]

Fox for $52.4 billion to build its TV empire

By knl9j

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