Disney Will Challenge Netflix in a Big Way by Buying 21st Century Fox
Just a few short weeks after the world first learned that Bob Igermight be eyeingRupert Murdoch’s va..
Just a few short weeks after the world first learned that Bob Igermight be eyeingRupert Murdoch’s vast empire, it’s official: Disney really is buying most of 21st Century Fox, in an all-stock deal valued at around $52.4 billion, according to The New York Times.
It will take time for the merger to be approved—enough that Iger has elected to delay his planned retirement from July 2019 to the end of 2021, which might put a damper on his rumored political ambitions. But if and when the deal does go through, it will have a major effect on the entertainment industry at large—and not just because this means that the X-Men might finally be coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Disney already has serious muscle, thanks in no small part to its previous high-profile acquisitions, including Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. But as V.F.’s own Bess Levinexplained when word of the potential merger first broke, this acquisition will give the studio enough content to truly compete with its biggest Silicon Valley rivals, including Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google—something neither Disney nor 21st Century Fox could do on its own.
This deal will greatly enrich Disney’s new streaming platform, which it plans to launch in 2019, giving the company the rights to assets including the original Star Wars trilogy, the Avatar movies, The Simpsons, the new Planet of the Apes films, and the blockbuster Ice Age series, to name a few. Additionally, the merger will mean Disney now owns the Fox television studio—home to hits including This Is Us and Modern Family—and networks including FX, National Geographic, and more than 200 international channels. It will also give Disney majority control of Hulu, a streaming service founded as a joint venture between Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal (i.e., Comcast), and Turner Broadcasting System (i.e., Time Warner).
But Disney isn’t taking everything. As Varietynotes, 21st Century Fox plans to spin off a handful of assets, including the other Fox TV channels (the Fox network, Fox Sports, and Fox News), into a new company; this spin-off will also retain the historic 20th Century Fox lot in Los Angeles.
Does this deal sound like one that will draw the entertainment industry ever closer to a not-too-distant future in which all of television and film is owned and operated by Mickey Mouse? Well, maybe—but Bob Iger doesn’t see it that way.
“The acquisition of this stellar collection of businesses from 21st Century Fox reflects the increasing consumer demand for a rich diversity of entertainment experiences that are more compelling, accessible, and convenient than ever before,” Iger said Thursday in a statement. “We’re honored and grateful that Rupert Murdoch has entrusted us with the future of businesses he spent a lifetime building, and we’re excited about this extraordinary opportunity to significantly increase our portfolio of well-loved franchises and branded content to greatly enhance our growing direct-to-consumer offerings. The deal will also substantially expand our international reach, allowing us to offer world-class storytelling and innovative distribution platforms to more consumers in key markets around the world.”
Get Vanity Fair’s HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Hillary BusisHillary Busis is the Hollywood editor at VanityFair.com. Previously, she was an editor at Mashable and at Entertainment Weekly. She lives in Brooklyn, just like everyone else.
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