Disney/FOX Acquisition Thread

The lawsuit, in summary..

• Disney, has been pushing them moving out due to Genting Malaysia being a place of gambling
• GENM is suggesting that Disney wants to terminate the contract currently in place, and present road blocks to delay the project further.

Keep in mind, the contract was put in place in 2013, and in the article; Genting has expressed that they had plans to begin softs in the Spring.

 

Warner Bros is interested in selling off their 10% of Hulu...it could go to Comcast or Disney who knows...

In other acquisitions, based on job openings and specifically the wording of the job posts, Comcast actively and thoroughly looking to buy Japanese and Korean content creators/studios as it boosts their revenue significantly. Take that as you will.

 

"Executives are expecting to close that deal in the final week of January, according to one person familiar with the deal who was not authorized to speak publicly."

Disney and Verizon headed for blackout battle

 

I think January was just internet rumors. Last official statement I saw from Disney said the second quarter of the year (which June is).

 

Brazil has now approved of the Fox/Disney deal, as the deal now should finally close in March.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

 

Fox Rocked by $179M 'Bones' Ruling: Lying, Cheating and "Reprehensible" Studio Fraud | Hollywood Reporter

How does this effect the Disney deal?

The producers of Bones (including the stars, David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel) were screwed out of streaming royalties by Fox execs and backhanded dealings amongst Fox subsidiaries, including Hulu (which they own a stake in). They used some creative accounting to claim that the show was a money-loser when it was actually profitable, and if the show lost money then the producers wouldn't get the royalties, that money instead staying with Fox.

Actually the bigger deal is that two of the named parties who falsified testimony are supposed to stay on when the Disney/Fox merger is complete.

Additionally other Fox television producers may have been limited their royalties payments as well.

 

Ultimately Disney will likely inherit that fight and possibly have to pay out those claims if the claimants are successful.


I think the biggest impact though on the purchase of Fox assets has been the divestiture requirements in the US, Brazil, and Mexico.

Those sports assets are probably worth somewhere in the range of $30-35 billion. If you're getting a price under $20 billion for all of those, then all of a sudden, Disney is paying considerably more for the remainder of the Fox assets than they thought. Though they booked a tidy profit from accepting Comcast's Sky bid, they'll absolutely need Disney+ and Hulu to hit every conceivable benchmark to justify the rich prices paid for the remainder of the assets, especially the TV/Movie studio.

 

Yeah, I'd suspect that Disney & Fox won't need to worry much about that, until after the Merger completes.

It is outstanding the events that have unfolded for the sake of the deal's future. All I can do now, is wishing for Disney/21CF/Searchlight/BlueSky/NatGEO to handle the transition without much in losses (it's gonna happen, but I'm hoping it's minimal).

 

In the event that they do have to cut them out would they be more inclined to divest them to the highest bidder or just close up shop/fold into other parts?

 

And looks like Warner will sell their 10% to Disney as well as 2% of their assets. (Comcast should buy out Otter Media)
Hulu Stake Among Items Under Review At AT&T As WarnerMedia Legal Clouds Part | Deadline

 

Disney Taps Warner Bros. Vet Craig Hunegs to Lead Merged TV Studios – Variety

 

Landmark Deal Ends EU’s Sky Antitrust Case Against Hollywood Studios, Opening Up European Pay-TV Marketplace | Deadline

 

That's a huge win for Comcast in particular as Sky can immediately begin to market their OTT in other markets with the studio deals that they have in place. That should give them a head start at least for OTT in the markets they haven't gone to yet such as France and other big markets in Europe.

It's natural that Disney/Warner would agree to this as well since they plan to release worldwide streaming services of their own as well.

 

Yes, and it makes the financial price for the acquisition much less burdensome.