Well its official! Disney to Buy 20th Century Fox Assets for $52.4 Billion in Historic Hollywood Merger.

The Walt Disney Co. has set a $52.4 billion, all-stock deal to acquire 20th Century Fox and other entertainment and sports assets from Rupert Murdoch’s empire. The deal between Disney and 21st Century Fox marks a historic union of Hollywood heavyweights and a bid by Disney to bolster its core TV and film businesses against an onslaught of new competitors in the content arena.

Key elements of the transaction unveiled Thursday morning:

The deal values the 21st Century Fox assets in the transaction at $66.1 billion, including $13.7 billion in 21st Century Fox debt, or $28 a share. The enterprise value of the deal is $69 billion.
Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger has extended his contract with the company for another two years, through the end of 2021, in order to oversee the integration of the assets.
21st Century Fox shareholders will receive 0.2745 Disney shares for each Fox share held, giving Fox shareholders about 25% of Disney.
21st Century Fox will spinoff Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Television Stations and a handful of other assets into a new company that will have revenue of $10 billion and earnings of about $2.8 billion. The 20th Century Fox lot in Century City will also remain with the spinoff Fox company.
21st Century Fox will continue to pursue its acquisition of the remaining 61% stake in Euro satcaster Sky that it does not already own with the intention of Disney taking it over when the Disney-Fox transaction is completed.
Disney expects to realize $2 billion in cost savings from combining Disney and Fox’s overlapping businesses within two years of the deal’s closing.
Disney expects the regulatory review of the acquisition to take as long as 18 months.
“The acquisition of this stellar collection of businesses from 21st Century Fox reflects the increasing consumer demand for a rich diversity of entertainment experiences that are more compelling, accessible and convenient than ever before,” said Iger. “We’re honored and grateful that Rupert Murdoch has entrusted us with the future of businesses he spent a lifetime building, and we’re excited about this extraordinary opportunity to significantly increase our portfolio of well-loved franchises and branded content to greatly enhance our growing direct-to-consumer offerings. The deal will also substantially expand our international reach, allowing us to offer world-class storytelling and innovative distribution platforms to more consumers in key markets around the world.”

If Disney had just repurchased the Marvel character rights, I'd be extremely happy. But on the other hand... Disney should be careful that it doesn't become the Empire in its Star Wars.

So it's just another branch from 20th Century Fox? Or will their logo be replaced with a 21th Century Fox logo from now on? I just hope they don't start kidifying and toning down stuff now.

Anyway, below is the link.

https://www.thewrap.com/disney-fox-acquisition-bob-iger/
Scroll down to the bottom to where it says 13 times The Simpsons predicted the future. It's getting scary now. Trump's presidency, a tiger attack, faulty voting machines, Guitar Hero, Farmville, smartwatches and now the sale of 20th Century Fox.

Films and tv can predict the future.

LOL! If there was any company that I'd be okay with buying the entire world... it would be Disney.

Disney isn't going to be an "Empire" like in Star Wars, and they're not going to kidify everything. I find it hilarious that people that piss and moan about this sort of thing have very little knowledge of the actual company.

For instance, I remember when Disney bought out LucasArts, and fans got into an uproar about it.

HOWEVER, the merge ended up being a good thing for both companies and fans. Not only do we have better movies since the merge, but now Star Wars fans are going to get a Star Wars themed land at both Disney World and Disneyland, AND they're also getting a hotel that will completely immerse guests into the Star Wars Universe.

For Star Wars fans, this is a dream come true... because it wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Fans have little to worry about because when Disney opened Pandora-World of Avatar, it was very impressive. Heck, I was impressed, and I wasn't really a fan of Avatar.

Needless to say... if Disney buys something out... there's really nothing to worry about.

And if they end up taking over the world, I'm okay with that. I've been to their parks, and there's a reason people save and spends thousands of dollars staying there for vacations... despite the fact it's overpriced and overcrowded.

Well usually when people say Disney, they think: Mickey Mouse and singing in animation films. Maybe it doesn't have to mean they'll have the last say about everything and they're not the MPAA either. Imagine the Alien becoming child-friendly. There's a scary thought. On the other hand I think Deep Rising was scored at the Disney studios.

But if it all works out on the long term, it might be a good deal.

According to AdWeek, Comcast has just made a $65 billion all-cash offer for 21st Century Fox in a Hail Mary play to aggressively wrest the company and its sizable assets from Disney. This move comes in the wake of Tuesday’s verdict that approved the merger of AT&T’s and Time Warner for $85 billion, despite efforts by the Justice Department to block it. The offer is expected to spark a bidding war between the two powerhouses, Disney and Comcast.

“After our meetings last year, we came away convinced that the 21CF businesses to be sold are highly complementary to ours, and that our company would be the right strategic home for them,” wrote Comcast CEO Brian Roberts in a letter to the Fox board of directors. “In light of yesterday’s decision in the AT&T/Time Warner case, the limited time prior to your shareholders’ meeting, and our strong continued interest, we are pleased to present a new, all-cash proposal that fully addresses the Board’s stated concerns with our prior proposal.”

In mid-December, The Walt Disney Company announced it would purchase 21st Century Fox, including the 20th Century Fox Film and Television studios, along with cable and international TV businesses, for $52.4 billion. Prior to the deal, Fox had entertained a much higher bid from Comcast in the low $60 billion range but ultimately terminated talks early on due to antitrust concerns. In February Comcast revived its interest in purchasing the 21st Century Fox assets, feeling confident that they could avoid entanglements that would incur government litigation as in the AT&T/Time Warner deal. Roberts has said that Comcast would match Disney’s $2.5 billion breakup fee should the deal fall apart due to regulatory issues.

Like Disney, Comcast already controls a major television network (NBC), a motion picture studio (Universal Pictures), several animation studios (Illumination Entertainment, Dreamworks Animation) and a theme park empire (Universal Studios). They also boast the second-largest pay-TV company after AT&T, largest cable TV company and largest home internet service provider in the United States. Their TV conflicts could potentially be settled by leaving regional Fox stations out of the deal.

However, part of the appeal of the Disney deal to the Murdoch family was its ability to make them influential Disney shareholders, with 21st Century Fox Chief Executive James Murdoch (son of Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch) potentially inheriting a high position at Disney if the deal is completed. On the film side, the Disney deal also boasts potential re-integration of Marvel and Star Wars assets, while a Universal deal boasts no such synergy. In 2017, Disney’s Buena Vista held a dominant 21.8% of the movie market share, while Universal Pictures held 13.8% with 20th Century Fox at 12%. Comcast, Disney and Fox all own interests in streaming giant Hulu, so either deal would boast a challenge to Netflix, although Disney plans to start its own separate streaming service in Fall 2019.

The Disney deal includes 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox 2000, 20th Century Fox Television, FX Productions, Fox21, FX Networks, National Geographic Partners, Fox Sports Regional Networks, Fox Networks Group International, Star India and Fox’s interests in Hulu, Sky, and Endemol Shine Group.

The deal doesn’t include the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network. Those will be spun off into a newly-listed company.

When the deal was announced, it was also revealed that The Walt Disney Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger had agreed to continue in the position through the end of calendar year 2021 to oversee the transition.

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