The Walt Disney Co. closed its $71.3 billion acquisition deal for major entities of 21st Century Fox, expanding its global reach and content portfolio ahead of its plan to unveil a streaming service later this year.
Disney will now call Fox film and TV studio, the FX networks, National Geographic, Indian TV giant Star India and Fox’s 30 percent stake in streaming service Hulu its own. This latest addition of yet another chunk of Hulu makes Disney the proud owner of 60 percent of the video platform, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
On a smaller scale, the deal will bring Marvel Comics’s X-Men franchise into the movie fold.
Disney’s regulatory filing in 2017 claimed that the new additions could quickly add about $19.3 billion to its annual revenue and $1.6 billion to its net income. In that fiscal year, Disney reported $55.1 billion in revenue and $9.4 billion in net income.
While Disney has promised $2 billion in cost savings thanks to the new Fox properties, some experts in the industry are predicting that between 4,000-10,000 layoffs are imminent.
As part of regulatory approvals in both the Brazilian and Mexican markets, Disney has agreed to sell 22 regional sports networks in the U.S. and its sports networks in each country. It will also give up its stakes in a few networks in Europe, like Lifetime and History.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
