Walt Disney buys 21st Century Fox parts for $52.4 billion
Entertainment giant Walt Disney is acquiring parts of the media conglomerate 21st Century Fox. As the company announced on Thursday, several of Fox's core businesses, valued at approximately 52.4 billion U.S. dollars, are changing hands.
Payment will be made entirely in stock; for each share of 21st Century Fox, shareholders are set to receive 0.2745 Disney shares. There had already been widespread speculation in recent days about the mega-deal involving the Fox Group, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Disney CEO Bob Iger is also expected to continue leading the company through the end of 2021.
Among the business units that the Fox Group is now selling to Walt Disney are the long-established Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox, several U.S. cable channels, and the European pay-TV network Sky. In addition, Walt Disney will acquire a controlling stake in the streaming platform Hulu.
The companies expect the deal to result in total cost savings of at least $2 billion, which are expected to take effect as early as the second fiscal year following the closing. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.
Streaming at a Glance
Previously, the U.S. cable giant Comcast had expressed interest in parts of 21st Century Fox, but then withdrew from the talks. For the Disney Group, the move to acquire Fox is a logical step: CEO Iger is responding to changing consumer behavior and targeting younger audiences.
The manager wants to transform his company into a major video-streaming provider so it can compete on equal footing with rivals like Netflix. To do this, Disney needs more original content to offer its customers. (SDA)
