Disney Fox Acquisition Solidified With $71.4 Billion Deal
The Walt Disney Company today announced that it has signed an amended acquisition agreement with 21st Century Fox for $71.3 Billion ($38 per share in cash and stock). Disney will acquire 21st Century Fox immediately following the spin-off of the businesses comprising “New Fox” as previously announced. This news comes after Comcast made an aggressive $65 billion all-cash offer last week for the 21st Century Fox assets, forcing Disney to increase its initial $52.4 billion purchase for the Fox acquisition.
For movie fans, as of now this means that presumed plans to reintegrate characters like Fantastic Four and X-Men (including Deadpool) into Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe remain intact, as does the total acquisition of Fox’s distribution rights to the original 1977 Star Wars for Lucasfilm. Disney will also now control the rights to such current Fox cinematic franchises as Avatar, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Predator, Die Hard, Kingsman, Ice Age and Night at the Museum. On the TV side some titles they will control include The Simpsons, Family Guy, Legion, American Horror Story, The Orville, NBC’s This Is Us and ABC’s Modern Family. In 2017, Disney’s Buena Vista held a dominant 21.8% of the movie market share, while 20th Century Fox held 12%
