Disney has acquired most of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion in Stock
Disney has acquired most of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion in Stock
In effect, Fox is shedding their entertainment divisions and plans to focus on their highly profitable, but controversial, news networks and Sports divisions. This deal will give Disney a majority stake in Hulu, the online streaming service, a 39% stake in Sky, giving Disney an international presence in television and control of the many film and TV properties that Fox holds the rights to.
Another interesting aspect of this deal is that Disney will finally gain the distribution rights to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, as Fox previously owned the full distribution rights to the film in perpetuity (basically forever).
In recent months Disney has been rumoured to be working on their own online Streaming service to compete with the likes of Amazon and Netflix, with this deal giving the company the rights to many popular TV shows and movie franchises. This agreement will include the rights to TV shows like the Simpsons, Futurama, Firefly and the X-Files and Film franchises like the Alien series, the rebooted Planet of the Apes series and the X-Men franchise.
(Disney Chairman, Robert A Iger with Rupert Murdoch)
This deal will turn Disney into an even more colossal massive media giant, provided this deal receives regulatory approval and will allow Fox to shed some weight and focus on some of its more profitable business ventures.
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