A little over a year ago news broke that Disney was planning to buy 21st Century Fox’s film and TV properties, giving them access to the vast library of movies and shows. In that time people have come to accept the reality that Disney will expand its place in the entertainment market by an insane amount, even though the deal had yet to close. That’s all expected to change next week as reports are surfacing now that the merger of Disney and Fox is set to close on Wednesday, March 20, which means the House of Mouse is expected to get a whole lot bigger real soon.
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A press release from Disney (via Deadline) indicated that the company received the final approval of the deal they needed from Mexico and that the acquisition is expected to go into effect on March 20. According to the release, Fox shareholders have until Thursday to decide how much of the $71 billion transaction they want to be made up in cash and Disney stock. Their options do include having the money in either an assortment of large briefcases, an assortment of sacks with money symbols printed on the front, or via a large pool of gold coins à la Scrooge McDuck.
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The $71 billion Disney offered for Fox was originally smaller at a paltry $52 billion at the start of the deal, which led media behemoth Comcast to front an increased offer of close to $65 billion in cash – cold hard cash. Disney smacked that down with the current offer, and since then they’ve faced no competition for the company.
The deal first came to light in December 2017, with movie and TV fans everywhere beginning to speculate about the future of certain properties like X-MEN, AVATAR, THE SIMPSONS and more. The deal had to be solidified first before anyone at Disney, Marvel and more was willing to talk on the matter beyond expressing their excitement, but now that things are coming to a close, the reality of the situation should start to settle in. On top of all the content, they’re getting Disney will also get a controlling stake in streaming service Hulu, which adds another major outlet for that content alongside their Disney+ service, which launches this year.
So, what do you all think? There are some cool things that can happen in the film and TV realms, but the business implications of this are a bit unnerving. Disney now has much more control over the landscape, to say the least. Having one company or entity in control of such a large chunk of the content is never a good sign, potentially putting a lot of jobs at risk. But, hey, X-Men in the MCU, right?