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All the updates and implications of 21st Century Fox’s acquisition

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20th Century Fox is up for grabs, and it has a pair of high-powered suitors: Disney and Comcast. Last summer, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch began discussions about a potential acquisition. After learning of these talks, Verizon and Comcast expressed their own interest in buying the media company.

Fox isn’t going to be absorbed into either company entirely: its news and sports networks will be folded into a new company called New Fox, while its larger entertainment portfolio of films and television — and critically, its share of Hulu — would end up at one of the two companies.

It’s easy to see why both Disney and Comcast want Fox. It holds some extremely valuable intellectual property, from Avatar to Alien to X-Men; Disney’s been snapping up massive amounts of IP in recent years, and Comcast is looking to invest further in the franchise game, too, including outlets to distribute it.

Fox’s fate is far from certain: there’s been a real back-and-forth as both Disney and Comcast vie to outbid each other. Follow along for all of the updates and commentary from the business saga.

  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Sep 26, 2018

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Comcast will own all of Sky as Fox sells its stake for $15 billion

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    The summer’s Fox / Comcast / Disney drama came to a close last week when Comcast finally managed to outbid 21st Century Fox for a controlling stake in European TV and broadband provider Sky for $38.8 billion. And now, having lost that battle, Fox is ceding the remainder of its existing 39 percent ownership to Comcast in a $15 billion deal that would see Comcast gain full control of the UK telecom company, as reported by Variety.

    Fox had long been attempting to gain full control of Sky — Fox’s existing 39 percent stake as well as the intended remainder of the company was set to be included as part of the Disney deal — but ran into a competing bid from Comcast, which also tried to one-up the House of Mouse in buying Fox. In the end, it seems the two major corporations will split the prize: Disney managing to outbid Comcast for Fox, and Comcast taking Sky from Fox (and, therefore, Disney).

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  • Sep 22, 2018

    Andrew Liptak

    Comcast has outbid 21st Century Fox for Sky

    The Comcast logo on a black background.
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Comcast has won an auction to acquire UK telecommunications company Sky, bidding $38.8 billion to overtake Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox after a lengthy bidding war this summer. Comcast’s win paves the way for it to acquire Sky and its 23 million European subscribers and entertainment assets. Sky’s shareholders will now need to approve the deal.

    Over the course of this year, Comcast and Fox have been locked in a titanic battle over their futures, one that will define the nature of the industry as a whole. Last summer, Disney CEO Bob Iger spoke with Murdoch about an acquisition of Fox and made its first offer in December, and while Comcast made its own overtures this spring. The two made several bids this spring, but after Disney later upped its offer, Comcast dropped its plans to acquire Murdoch’s company.

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  • Aug 16, 2018

    Andrew Liptak

    Dark Horse is losing its Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics

    Art: Dark Horse Comics

    Earlier this summer, Disney got the approval it needed to move forward with its plans to acquire 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets, allowing it to add franchises like Alien, X-Men, and others to its vast library of holdings. Now there’s an indication that that transfer is underway: Fox is pulling Dark Horse’s license to publish Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics.

    Joss Whedon recently spoke with Comic Book Resources about a new comic adaptation of his Dr. Horrible musical, saying that he wanted to do more comics with Dark Horse “because Fox is taking the Buffy license and the Firefly license back.” Dark Horse Comics confirmed the news, saying that they’re “proud of the world we helped to expand and are grateful to Joss Whedon and the creative teams for their incredible work on the series.”

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  • Jul 27, 2018

    Andrew Liptak

    Shareholders have approved Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox

    Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge

    Shareholders have approved Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century’s film and television studios this morning, paving the way for Disney to add Fox’s catalog of networks and intellectual property to its already vast holdings.

    Disney will be required to divest itself of Fox’s regional sports networks, because it already owns ESPN. The company also won’t acquire all of Fox’s holdings: the remaining assets — some broadcast networks, including Fox News, Fox Business and Fox Sports, and local TV stations will be spun into a new company called New Fox.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Jul 19, 2018

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Comcast gives up on buying 21st Century Fox assets and leaves Disney as the winner

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Comcast has formally withdrawn its competing $65 billion bid to acquire 21st Century Fox, ceding the rights to the entertainment company to Disney’s upped $71.3 billion offer. Comcast says it will instead shift all focus to its ongoing efforts to acquire Europe’s Sky instead.

    Per an official statement from the company, “Comcast does not intend to pursue further the acquisition of the Twenty-First Century Fox assets and, instead, will focus on our recommended offer for Sky.”

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  • Jun 27, 2018

    Andrew Liptak

    Disney wins antitrust approval to acquire 21st Century Fox

    Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge

    Disney has cleared a key hurdle in its bid to acquire 21st Century Fox: the company has won antitrust approval from the Justice Department, albeit with one condition. The Justice Department required that Disney divest Fox’s regional sports networks, as they would create anti-competitive conflicts due to Disney’s ownership of ESPN, according to Variety. Disney has agreed to the conditions.

    In December, Disney announced that it would acquire 21st Century Fox’s media holdings: its television and movie studios (but not its sports and news operations). Talks for the acquisition took place last fall, and were complicated when Comcast made overtures of its own.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Jun 20, 2018

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Disney ups its Fox bid to $71.3 billion in response to Comcast offer

    Disney has officially upped its offer for the purchase of 21st Century Fox. It’s now offering to purchase the entertainment giant’s film and TV assets at a price of $38 per share, or roughly $71.3 billion, which is a drastic increase from the company’s original $52.4 billion deal that valued Fox at $28 per share.

    It’s a direct counter to Comcast, which tried to swoop in earlier this month with a $65 billion, all-cash offer to top Disney’s original bid by offering $35 per share. In addition to the increased price, Disney’s new offer allows 21st Century Fox stockholders to choose to receive their chunk of the sale in the form of either cash or Disney stock now (subject to 50/50 proration), which may undercut the all-cash appeal of Comcast’s offer.

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  • Devon Maloney

    Jun 16, 2018

    Devon Maloney

    Comcast’s offer to buy Fox out from under Disney has MCU fans freaking out about X-Men

    Los Angeles Global Premiere for Marvel Studios’ ‘Avengers: Infinity War’
    Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Disney

    This week, after a federal court greenlit AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner and effectively signaled a shift toward a more merger-friendly environment in the US legal system, Comcast made good on weeks of hints by making an all-cash bid to buy 21st Century Fox for a whopping $65 billion. It‘s a conspicuous challenge to Disney’s stock-based, months-in-the-making offer of $52.4 billion, and while it’s unclear how the debacle will shake out in the end — following Comcast‘s bid, Disney stock actually went up; it‘s also possible that the two giants might split Fox‘s assets — one thing is certain: a horde of Marvel fans are now actively rallying against Comcast’s bid for attempting to keep the Fox-owned X-Men from joining their fellow superheroes in Disney’s MCU.

    MCU fans going unreasonably hard in the name of their beloved franchise is nothing particularly new; as with many fandoms over the past decade, that self-powered enthusiasm has grown into a formidable marketing arm of its own. Fans have also been anticipating the potential arrival of the Fox-owned Marvel Comics properties like X-Men and the Fantastic Four to Disney‘s MCU stable for a while; Fox has owned the screen rights to these Marvel Comics properties since the late 1990s, a decade before Disney collected the rest of them with its acquisition of Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The deal Disney made with Sony last year to successfully wrangle the Sony-owned Spider-Man into the Avengers franchise. And yes, it would certainly be fun to see Jean Grey and Storm roll up on one of the Avengers’ existential melees to handily save the day.

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  • Adi Robertson

    Jun 15, 2018

    Adi Robertson

    What will Disney and Comcast own if they buy Fox?

    Photo: 20th Century Fox

    Earlier this week, Comcast made a $65 billion offer to acquire most of 21st Century Fox, attempting to derail a Disney-Fox acquisition that was announced last year. Comcast and Disney have both been chasing this deal for months. And although the financial terms for each company are different, they’re looking for the same assets from Fox — which, in turn, is looking to refocus on its core network TV business.

    But which parts of Fox are staying independent, and which ones will Comcast or Disney own? And how will the new parts fit into these massive conglomerates’ existing businesses? Here’s what you can look forward to if one of the deals goes through.

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  • Chris Welch

    Jun 13, 2018

    Chris Welch

    Comcast makes $65 billion offer to steal 21st Century Fox away from Disney

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    After weeks of signaling it would do so, Comcast is making a play at 21st Century Fox’s TV and film assets. Hoping to derail Disney’s pending, stock-based $52.4 billion deal with Fox, Comcast is stepping in with a higher, all-cash offer for $35 per share, which totals approximately $65 billion. The move is likely to trigger an intense battle between Comcast and Disney as 21st Century Fox and the Murdoch empire weigh which is the better option. Fox’s board of directors is scheduled to vote on the Disney deal on July 10th.

    "Time is of the essence for your consideration of our proposal,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts wrote in a letter to Fox’s board. Comcast has filed a statement with the SEC in opposition to the Disney/21st Century Fox merger. On Wednesday evening, Fox said “21st Century Fox’s board, in consultation with its outside legal counsel and financial advisors, will carefully review and consider the Comcast proposal.” It hasn’t yet made a decision on whether it will postpone the July 10th meeting.

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  • Ashley Carman

    May 23, 2018

    Ashley Carman

    Comcast says it will bid on Fox, in attempt to block Disney acquisition

    Comcast sign

    Comcast really wants to own 21st Century Fox. The company announced today that it’s planning and is in the “advanced stages of preparing” an offer for Fox in the hopes that it’ll reject Disney’s existing bid to acquire the company’s entertainment arm. Comcast says: “Any offer for Fox would be all-cash and at a premium to the value of the current all-share offer from Disney.” This move has been expected and rumored. It doesn’t affect Fox’s news and sports assets, including Fox News and Fox Sports.

    Disney offered Fox a $52.4 billion all-stock deal late last year, and shareholders are expected to vote on the offer this summer. Comcast is hoping to sneak in with this all-cash offer ahead of that vote. Fox cut off earlier talks with Comcast over antitrust concerns, suspecting that the deal would never be approved. But now it seems that another major deal — Time Warner and AT&T — might pass through. If that happens, Comcast could potentially acquire parts of Fox without alarming regulators.

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  • Apr 20, 2018

    Andrew Liptak

    The Disney-21st Century Fox deal: a timeline

    Image: Disney

    Yesterday, Disney filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its acquisition of 21st Century Fox in December. The document highlights the details of the acquisition, as well as a timeline that shows off how the talks began. It also reveals that Disney wasn’t the only company interested in acquiring Fox — Verizon and Comcast also came calling.

    The SEC filing makes for a dry but at times fascinating read. As it unfolded in the press last November and December, it was clear that there were some ups and downs behind the scenes. The document shows how the complicated deal came together, and how both companies agonized not only over what parts to acquire, but how to do so while avoiding regulators.

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  • Thuy Ong

    Dec 14, 2017

    Thuy Ong

    What does Disney’s acquisition of Fox mean for the MCU?

    Avengers: Age of Ultron promotional stills (MARVEL/DISNEY)

    Disney has acquired 21st Century Fox’s film and TV studios in a landmark $52 billion deal. This means that the door is open for Disney to incorporate the Marvel properties previously controlled by Fox — including X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool — into its Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    In its statement, Disney says the agreement will allow it to reunite these characters “with the Marvel family under one roof and create richer, more complex worlds of inter-related characters and stories that audiences have shown they love.” Marvel is already planning to overhaul the MCU after the studio’s “Phase Three” arc. That will finish with a fourth and supposed final Avengers film in 2019, which will end the Infinity War story. “There will be two distinct periods. Everything before Avengers 4 and everything after,” Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, has previously said.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Dec 14, 2017

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Disney has acquired 21st Century Fox’s film and TV studios in a landmark deal

    Disney has acquired 21st Century Fox's film and TV studios in a landmark deal worth over $52 billion. The arrangement covers the movie studio 20th Century Fox, the company’s TV production arm 20th Century Fox Television, Fox-owned cable networks (including FX and National Geographic), and the company’s stakes in international networks like Star TV and Sky (which Fox is planning to acquire full ownership of before the sale is completed).

    Disney also will gain a majority control of Hulu in the deal, with Fox’s 30 percent stake giving Disney a controlling interest of 60 percent. Comcast and Time Warner will be reduced to minority stakeholders, with 30 percent and 10 percent stakes, respectively. 

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  • Dec 2, 2017

    Andrew Liptak

    Disney is once again in talks to acquire 21st Century Fox

    disney-logo-timesquare

    In November, word broke that Disney and 21st Century Fox had begun to discuss the possibility of Disney acquiring most of Fox’s film and television assets, but just as quickly, it became clear that those discussions had since ended. Now, it seems as though those talks are back on, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

    The WSJ cites reports of people familiar with the situation who say that the talks are currently active and are gaining momentum, although it’s possible that they could once again fall through. As previously rumored, the talks concern Fox’s movie and television studios, international assets, and some domestic television networks, excluding Fox News and Sports. Rupert Murdoch and his family are reportedly expected to decide whether or not to sell by the end of the year.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Nov 6, 2017

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Disney reportedly held talks to acquire most of 21st Century Fox

    The Disney logo on a white background.

    21st Century Fox has been in talks to sell most of its company to Disney, according to a report by CNBC. The discussions are said to have centered around Fox shedding its film and TV divisions, networks like FX and National Geographic, and the company’s stakes in international networks like Star TV and Sky.

    Fox is said to be primarily interested in selling its entertainment divisions in order to focus on what the company’s management is said to view as its most profitable areas; selling the costly film and TV divisions to Disney would let Fox better focus on its successful news and sports programming. As such, Fox isn’t said to be interested in selling the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports, and the Fox News and Fox Business brands. (Incidentally, Disney also legally can’t own the Fox network because it already owns ABC, and would probably run into antitrust issues with ESPN if it somehow could convince 21st Century Fox to sell Fox Sports.)

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