21 Jun 2018
Comcast bid rejected as Fox agrees new merger deal with Disney
BY Tom Anstey
The Disney/Fox merger is back on, after Fox accepted a larger Disney offer days after Comcast attempted to hijack the deal.
Under the amended acquisition agreement, Disney will buy Fox for US$71.3bn in cash and stock – an increase from Disney's initial US$52.4bn stock offer and Comcast's US$65bn cash offer.
"The amended and restated Disney Merger Agreement offers a package of consideration, flexibility, and deal certainty enhancements that is superior to the proposal made by the Comcast Corporation on June 13, 2018," said a Fox statement.
The new offer from Disney includes US$35.7bn in cash, with the remainder in stock. The new agreement has been approved by both companies' boards, but will still need to be ratified by their shareholders.
"Disney believes the transaction has a clear and timely path to regulatory approval," Disney's announcement said. "Both companies have spent the past six months working toward meeting all conditions necessary for closing. In the amended agreement, Disney has increased the scope of its commitment to take actions required to secure regulatory approval."
Initially announced in December last year, Disney and Fox reached a deal for Disney to acquire Twentieth Century Fox Film and Television studios, along with Fox's cable and international TV businesses.
The Fox acquisition will see Disney acquire a huge media library and the distribution rights to the first Star Wars film and the film rights to the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises – two IPs not obtained through its previous multi-billion-dollar acquisitions of Lucasfilm and Marvel.
The move will have significant impact on the theme park industry, with Disney likely planning to bring its new Fox IPs to its parks. Comcast owns Universal, which it would almost certainly have wanted to bring the Fox library to its parks instead.
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