21st Century Fox has been holding talks to sell most of the company to Disney: Sources 21st Century Fox has been holding talks to sell most of the company to Walt Disney Co., leaving behind a media company tightly focused on news and sports, according to people familiar with the situation. The talks have taken place over the last few weeks and there is no certainty they will lead to a deal. The two sides are not currently talking at this very moment, but given the on again, off again nature of the talks, they could be revisited. For Fox, the willingness to engage in sale talks with Disney stems from a growing belief among its senior management that scale in media is of immediate importance and that there is not a path to gain that scale in entertainment through acquisition. The company is said to believe that a more tightly focused group of properties around news and sports could compete more effectively in the current marketplace. The media landscape has changed considerably in recent years with giants such as Facebook, Google (Alphabet), Amazon and Netflix changing the way people consume media and dominating the digital distribution of digital video content. Being able to compete in that changing landscape, many people believe, requires scale that a Disney has, but 21st Century Fox does not. For Disney, the opportunity to take control of another movie studio and significant TV production assets as it readies a direct-to-consumer entertainment streaming offering is attractive as is Fox's significant exposure to international markets, such as the U.K., Germany and Italy — both through its networks and 39 percent ownership of Sky. Disney recently announced it will pull all of its movies from the Netflix platform and will establish two direct-to-consumer offerings: one for sports and one including its key franchises such as "Star Wars" and Marvel. Disney would not purchase all of Fox, according to people with knowledge of the talks. Bob Iger (L), CEO of Walt Disney Co. and Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corp. Getty Images The company could not own two broadcast networks and would therefore not buy the Fox broadcast network. It would not buy Fox's sports programming assets in the belief that combining them with ESPN could be seen as anti-competitive from an antitrust standpoint and it would not buy the Fox News or Business channel. Disney would also not purchase Fox's local broadcasting affiliates, according to people familiar with the negotiations. In addition to the movie studio, TV production and international assets such as Star and Sky, Disney would also add entertainment networks such as FX and National Geographic. The contemplated structure of the deal or the price that has been discussed could not be learned. Given it would involve the sale of many, but not all of Fox's properties, it's unclear how Fox would mitigate potential tax consequences of a deal. Officials at Disney and Fox declined to comment.
Posted about this in the Star Wars OT thread as well. Uggh, it isn't worth getting the original theatrical version of Star Wars released if it means Disney owns almost literally EVERYTHING. Not a fan of the Fox corporation (or Disney for that matter), but jeez, we have to keep what little diversification remains of the big movie studios. Disney owning yet *another* major movie studio is a bad, bad, bad idea. Disappointed (but not surprised) that so many articles and sites reporting this new today are just covering how exciting it would be to see Iron Man and X-Men in the same movie, not realizing the much larger ramifications of this. I really hope this *doesn't* happen. If Fox wants to divest their movie studio division and all of those assets, I hope someone else, anybody else (other than another major studio), can gather enough money to do it.
Regarding the potential consequences of a merger, what difference does it make? One major studio would be buying another major studio. They all turn out the same kind of big budget, special effects laden, blockbusters. You want diversity? Watch independent films. There’s a plethora of independent films produced by independent studios.
Can't imagine a worse studio scenario, but that's why I think it'll inevitably happen. Disney is already dangerous. It's sickening. But yeah, there's nothing stopping them is there. dan c
It'd be funny if the deal went through, Disney looked through their new holdings, and started saying, "Heeeyyyy, waaiitaminnutte...where's'_______'?" And Fox comes back with, "Oh, well, that was TWENTIETH Century Fox - THIS deal was only for TWENTY-FIRST Century Fox...!"
I was surprised by this too but I guess "21st Century Fox" is the larger organization that includes the film studio (20th Century Fox), the Fox TV network and other stuff... 21st Century Fox - Wikipedia
If this deal goes through will that mean a rebranding of the Fox network, Fox News, etc (since the Fox name would be owned by Disney)? Hmm.
As I read it Disney is only buying the movie studio. Disney already owns TV networks (ABC, ESPN). It would be difficult to get regulatory approval if the bought Fox News and Fox Broadcast network. But I agree that more consolidation isn't good for anyone except maybe the shareholders.
Yeah, but what i mean is if Disney owns the Fox corporation, since Fox network and Fox News won't be a part of that anymore, would the new (former-Fox) company re-name Fox network, etc?
This is horrible news. It better NOT go through. If it does, there's a good change Disney will just let the entire Fox film and TV library from the 20th century sit in a vault forever and forever.
Just learned that the deal has cooled off, as Fox didn't like some of the terms that Disney brought to the table (undisclosed). And I hope it stays that way from now on. Disney Explored Buying Fox Assets; Talks Now Dead
Well, they did give in to some well-deserved pushback today, on an issue that's outside the scope of this forum. But... yeah.
Fox has been shopping their entertainment division the past couple of years. They tried selling the movie studio to Warner just last year but the deal fell through.
No, the opposite will happen: Disney is desperate to make their new streaming service successful, so they want to buy as much programming as possible to make their service extremely competitive and have a huge, huge library for people to watch. Having all the 20th Century-Fox movies & TV shows would be a big asset for them. Behind Disney’s Play for Fox: Determination to Beat Netflix
This deal will heat back up after Fox realizes that the mouse is the only game in town. It's a very expensive purchase and (cheap) Disney will hold out for every last nickel and dime they can get out of Fox.
The thought of Mickey Mouse and The Rocky Horror Picture Show being hypothetically controlled by the same corporation; I can't even think about it.