Disney's Acquisition Of Fox Inches Toward The Finish Line; A Deal Could Happen Before Christmas
Well, ho ho ho... bub. According to a new report, Disney's acquisition talks with 21st Century Fox have started to really heat up as bankers for both companies have now gotten involved. Come take a look!
Christmas might be coming just a little early this year for Marvel fans as the Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox may be on the verge of agreeing to terms on a blockbuster acquisition that would see the House of Mouse acquire all of Fox's film and TV assets.
According to a new Variety report, Disney and Fox have both brought in their respective bankers to work on the fine print on the deal. Disney's group includes JP Morgan and Guggenheim Partners while Fox has Goldman Sachs and Centerview Partners in their corner.
While there's still plenty of work to get done, sources are claiming that there is a chance a deal could actually be struck before Christmas. Yes, Christmas.
The deal is said to be valued at approximately $74 billion, calculated as a 30% premium on the $57.4 billion enterprise value of all the assets involved, which include the 20th Century Fox film and TV studio, the FX Networks and National Geographic cable group, Fox's 30% stake in Hulu, and international TV platforms including Star India and its 39% interest in European satellite broadcaster Sky.
Additionally, CNBC is reporting that while Disney remains the frontrunner and most likely to get the deal done, they may still run into some difficulty actually finalizing the agreement if they are found to be in violation of any federal anti-trust laws. One thing working in their favor is their classification as a media company, which offers them more flexibility in talks with Fox and a clear advantage over Comcast. They may, however, still need to shed some assets to satisfy the federal regulators and their competitors, but it's too early to determine what assets they might be willing to give up. CNBC's report also forewarns that due to the Department of Justice's current lawsuit against the AT&T/Time Warner merger, there is a high probability that any potential Fox deal will be closely examined when it goes through and if the AT&T deal is ultimately blocked, then well, there's a decent chance that Fox may also run into some issues, regardless of whether they sell to Disney or Comcast. All we can do is hope that it doesn't come to that.
As for the X-Men and Fantastic Four, based on this new information, it's probably unlikely we see them join Spider-Man and The Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until at least mid-to-late 2019 at the earliest, depending on when the studio is actually integrated into Disney. It's not like everything will change hands overnight, there will be a relatively long transition process before all is said and done. At this point, it's actually more probable than not that fans may get to see Gambit, X-Force, and the rumored X-Men: Dark Phoenix - Part 2 go into production before the end of next year, although that is subject to change.
So, what do you guys think? Sound off with your thoughts below!