Disney and Fox Shareholders Approve The $71.3 Billion Merger!
Big exciting news! The shareholders of The Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox have voted and they have approved the $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox’s film and TV entertainment assets by Disney! That means that Marvel will officially be getting the right to the X-Men and Fantastic Four back!
This vote, which happened this morning, seals the deal and Disney CEO Bob Iger, had this to say in a statement:
"We’re incredibly pleased that shareholders of both companies have granted approval for us to move forward, and are confident in our ability to create significant long-term value through this acquisition of Fox’s premier assets. We remain grateful to Rupert Murdoch and to the rest of the 21st Century Fox board for entrusting us with the future of these extraordinary businesses, and look forward to welcoming 21st Century Fox’s stellar talent to Disney and ultimately integrating our businesses to provide consumers around the world with more appealing content and entertainment options."
The deal between the two studios is expected to close in the first half of 2019. At that point, Disney will take over ownership of Fox’s Twentieth Century Fox film and TV studios, as well as certain cable and international television businesses. All of these assets will be used to help strengthen Disney steaming service when they end up launching it.
Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch had this to say in a statement after the vote:
"Combining the 21CF businesses with Disney and establishing new ‘Fox’ will unlock significant value for our shareholders. We are grateful to our shareholders for approving this transaction. I want to thank all of our executives and colleagues for their enormous contributions in building 21st Century Fox over the past decades. With their help, we expect the enlarged Disney and new ‘Fox’ companies will be pre-eminent in the entertainment and media industries."
I'm just happy that this is finally over and that things can move forward with the deal. I'm also super excited about the future of Marvel and it's going to be interesting to see how they eventually implement the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the MCU!
Source: The Wrap