Multiple sources are reporting that The Walt Disney Company has set March 20th as the closing date for its long-awaited acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
The House of Mouse announced the news earlier this morning after they presumably received approval from Mexican regulators, the last major hurdle they needed to clear to move forward with the unprecedented deal. Current 21st Century Fox shareholders will now have until 5 p.m. EST Thursday to choose the amount of cash and Disney stock to receive in the $71.3 billion transaction.
The deal is officially expected to become effective on Wednesday, March 20, at 12:02 a.m. EST.
While comic book movie fans are undoubtedly - and perhaps a bit naively - zeroed in on the impending integration of the X-Men and Fantastic Four (along with other characters) into the blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe, this historic union between the two media giants isn't all good news as it's expected to result in as many as 4,000 layoffs within the next few weeks as overlapping operations are eliminated and resources are reallocated to further support Disney's upcoming global launch of the Disney+ streaming platform in the back half of this calendar year.