After months of rumours and speculation, Disney has set a $52.4 billion, all-stock deal to acquire 21st Century Fox and related assets from Rupert Murdoch’s empire says Variety.
Key points of the deal include:
- The deal includes Fox’s 39% stake in satellite broadcaster Sky, and the 20th Century Fox film studio.
- Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Television Stations and a handful of other assets into a new company
- Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger, who had previously announced a 2019 retirement, has extended his contract with the company for another two years, through the end of 2021
- Disney now has a majority control of Hulu, as Disney already owns a 30% stake in the streaming giant. This is significant given Disney’s stated plans of moving their content into the streaming space on a branded service.
- Popular entertainment properties including X-Men, Avatar, The Simpsons, FX Networks and National Geographic to join Disney’s portfolio
Of course, the big news for geekdom is that it means all of the Marvel assets that belonged to Fox are now back with Marvel Studios and Disney. This would include the X-Men and Fantastic Four films and characters, who may now be allowed to share a home base with the Avengers.
The bigger question is how all of this will be received by the anti-trust regulators in the US. Disney has acquired Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm in the last decade. As the BBC points out, “The US Department of Justice recently sued to block AT&T’s $85.4bn deal to buy Time Warner, on the basis that it will raise prices for consumers and competitors.”
More on this as it develops.
