Disney closed today the purchase of 21st Century Fox, the entertainment division of Fox, for 71,300 million dollars after receiving in recent weeks green light from regulators in several countries.
From the operation is born a giant of entertainment of a size never seen to date, which will include under its umbrella, among other content, Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, The Simpsons and Avatar.
The acquisition and the content it implies pave the way for the launch of the Disney subscription service, Disney +, in 2019, with which it intends to compete with Netflix, the sector leader.
Disney takes control, among others, from the studio 20th Century Fox, which was one of the “majors” of Hollywood, the FX and National Geographic channels or 30% of the Hulu subscription service, which will reach 60% of the platform.
“The combination of the wealth of creative content and proven talent of Disney and 21st Century Fox creates the pre-eminent global entertainment company, well positioned to lead in an incredibly dynamic and transformative era,” the CEO of Disney said in a statement. Bob Iger
The company of Iger has promised to the shareholders a saving of 2,000 million dollars until 2021, which will cause a massive dismissal that, according to some estimates, will affect 4,000 workers. With the acquisition, Disney absorbs 15,400 workers from 21st Century Fox.
Despite the sale of the entertainment division, the up-to-date owner of the Fox empire, tycoon Rupert Murdoch, will keep ownership of Fox News and Fox Sports 1 (FS1), grouped under Fox Corporation, focused on news and sports.
At the end of 2017 Disney offered 52,400 million dollars for the closed operation today, but a Comcast proposal to Fox for 65,000 million forced the company to raise the offer to 71,300 million, which is equivalent to 38 dollars per share.
The terms of the transaction allow 21st Century Fox shareholders to choose between receiving $ 51.57 in cash for their securities or exchanging them for 0.45 shares of the new Disney conglomerate.
Disney was already the great dominator of Hollywood before the purchase thanks to successful brands like Lucasfilm, Pixar or Marvel.
According to data from the specialized portal Box Office Mojo, three of the five highest grossing films of the past year around the world belonged to the Mickey Mouse group.
“Avengers: Infinity War” was the number one with 2.048 million dollars, “Black Panther” was hung the silver medal with 1.347 million, and “Incredibles 2” was placed in fourth place with 1.243 million.
Disney has also begun 2019 with force, since “Captain Marvel”, that scarcely takes two weeks in the big screen, heads the list of taquilleras tapes around the world with 779 million dollars.
Only throughout 2019, Disney has planned very prominent releases such as the new versions of “Dumbo”, “Aladdin” and “The Lion King”, the fourth installment of “Toy Story”, and, above all, two films who promise to break box office records: “Avengers: Endgame” by Marvel and episode IX of “Star Wars”.
Disney’s leadership in the cinema could be reinforced thanks to the purchase of the Fox movie plot, which includes rights to the comic characters of X-Men and Deadpool.
Fox also has in his possession “Avatar”, the highest grossing film of all time with 2.788 million dollars and of which his director James Cameron prepares at least four sequels.
As for the small screen, Fox has one of the best series collections in the United States with “The Simpsons” as an unquestionable spearhead.
The part of Fox dedicated to television, which also includes the powerful FX or National Geographic channels, is also responsible for other series such as “Modern Family”, “Family Guy”, “This is Us”, “American Horror Story”, “The X-Files” or “The Americans”.
All these productions in the small and big screen, together with Disney’s family and animated catalog, could be a key asset of the group to attract the public in its imminent battle against leaders of “streaming” such as Netflix. (EFEUSA) .-
