Both Parties Have Voted in Favor of the Disney-Fox Merger
Talk about the Disney-Fox merger and how it will change the entertainment industry as we know it has been all the rage for the past eight-plus months, with parties like Comcast looking to complicate things before backing away. But now, it sounds like Disney won’t have to worry about anyone else trying to vie for Fox, as both companies have voted to keep going with the merger.
LaughingPlace’s live-blog of the Disney-Fox meeting reveals that negotiations were short: a mere ten minutes after Disney version and the Fox version of the meeting started, both parties voted to fully-commit to have both companies join forces. (That was easy.) The people who cast their votes in favor of the merger prior to Disney raising their bid had to revote, and only one shareholder complained that Disney could have got a less expensive deal, but in any case, an unprecedented 99% of the shareholders on the Disney side voted in favor of the Disney-Fox merger.
Disney will not be relocating their headquarters as part of the massive merger. Curiously, neither Disney CEO Bob Iger or 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch were present at the meeting. Suffice to stay, there are still a number of international legal hurdles that the proposed merger has to overcome before the Disney-Fox deal can be fully realized, but in any case, the Disney-Fox merger is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019. This is slightly earlier than the expected, as Fox previously stated that, barring any complications, the merger would be completed in Summer 2019 (which could technically be as far back as September).
With this deal, Disney will gain control over a wealth of content, including the 20th Century Fox movie and television labels, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Blue Sky Studios, FX Networks, 73% of National Geographic Partners, Star TV, 39% of Sky, and 30% of Hulu (which will give Disney 60% of the shares in the streaming platform, which is meant to compliment their own service). In addition, Disney will also acquire full distribution rights for the first six Star Wars movies (including the original film, which was Fox’s to keep in perpetuity) and the film rights to many of the Marvel franchises that have not reverted back to the studio (including X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, and Silver Surfer). It’s expected that Disney will still utilize the Fox label, along with Fox Searchlight, for future films, with some speculating that those two labels will primarily be used for content that wouldn’t fit under the family-friendly Disney banner.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
