The Disney-Fox Acquisition Has Been Completed, Announces 21st Century Fox
Nearly two years after Disney's multi-billion dollar deal to acquire key entertainment assets from 21st Century Fox was announced, the Disney-Fox acquisition has been completed to the tune of $71.3 billion. The acquisition wil become effective at 12:02 a.m. Eastern Time March 20, 2019.
21st Century Fox announced that the long-standing deal for the Walt Disney Company to acquire its key assets, including the 20th Century Fox film and TV studio, Fox's entertainment cable networks, and its international assets, has been completed. Read 21st Century Fox's statement below:
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. ("21CF") (NASDAQ: TFCFA, TFCF) announced that it has today completed the distribution of all issued and outstanding shares of Fox Corporation ("FOX") common stock to 21CF stockholders (other than holders of the shares held by subsidiaries of 21CF) on a pro rata basis (the "Distribution"). 21CF and FOX are now each a standalone, publicly traded company. FOX Class A common stock and FOX Class B common stock are now listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market ("Nasdaq") under the symbols "FOXA" and "FOX," respectively. 21CF Class A common stock and 21CF Class B common stock, which were formerly listed on Nasdaq under the symbols "FOXA" and "FOX," respectively, are now listed on Nasdaq under the symbols "TFCFA" and "TFCF," respectively.
Shareholders from Disney and Fox approved the deal back in July 2018, but the finalization awaited major share approval for the deal from regulators in Mexico. Now with the long-standing deal finally closed, Fox has officially joined Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm under Disney's umbrella of studios.
The Disney-Fox deal is one of the biggest Hollywood deals in history. Disney initially put up $52.4 billion for Fox's assets in December 2017 and received the approval of the Justice Department despite concerns that the deal would be in violation of antitrust laws, but faced a few other bumps in the long road to finalization. The price was driven all the way up to a massive $71.3 billion after Comcast approached Fox with a higher offer. Comcast ended up bowing out of the Fox bidding, leaving a clear (albeit more expensive) path for Disney to swoop in.
The Disney-Fox acquisition has received notable attention from the pop culture world thanks to the impending incorporation of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, those elements often overshadow the human costs of the deal, which will almost certainly result in at least 4,000 employees losing their jobs. Once the deal becomes effective at 12:02 a.m. Eastern Time tonight, we'll likely see more news roll in about the effects of this deal.