Mega Merger: Disney Is Buying a Big Chunk of Fox

$52.4B deal must still be approved by regulators
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 14, 2017 6:37 AM CST
Massive Deal: Disney Buying Big Chunk of 21st Century Fox
Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch.   (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds, File)

It's a mammoth deal, and one that could have huge repercussions in the entertainment and media worlds. Disney is buying a large part of the Murdoch family's 21st Century Fox in a $52.4 billion deal, including film and television studios, cable, and international TV businesses as it tries to meet competition from technology companies in the entertainment business, per the AP. Before the buyout, 21st Century Fox will separate the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network into a newly listed company that will be spun off to its shareholders. The deal still must be approved by antitrust regulators.

Assuming it goes through, the deal would "reshape Hollywood and Silicon Valley," per the New York Times, which calls it "the biggest counterattack from a traditional media company against the tech giants that have aggressively moved into the entertainment business." Among other things, the deal would shore up Disney's place in the growing video-streaming landscape, notes the Wall Street Journal. The terms call for Disney CEO Bob Iger to run the newly combined enterprise through 2021. (More Disney stories.)

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