Disney In Talks To Buy Fox's Media Assets

Walt Disney has been in talks with 21st Century Fox to acquire a number of its media assets, including the movie studio and some cable networks, according to a CNBC report.

Disney’s interests include the Fox movie studio, FX Networks, National Geographic and Fox’s 39% interest in BSkyB. Also, possibly for sale is the Endemol Shine Group, and Fox’s stake in digital video platform Hulu.

Not for sale, per CNBC, are the Fox broadcasting network, Fox TV stations, Fox Sports, Fox News Channel, Fox Business and Fox’s YES regional sports network.

Analysts speculate Fox would be looking to retain its higher profit-margin businesses. Walt Disney’s stock was up 2% to $100.65 at Monday’s close; Fox was 9.9% higher to $27.45.

Growing competition from Netflix and others are pushing Disney to acquire more media assets, thus gaining better price leverage against digital video platforms.

While CNBC said talks between the two companies started in October, none are taking place now.

Fox and Disney representatives did not respond to inquiries by press time.

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1 comment about "Disney In Talks To Buy Fox's Media Assets".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 7, 2017 at 5:55 p.m.

    Hasn't it been reported, elsewhere, that this deal is going nowhere? But, in any event, merely buying a studio---like 20th Century Fox---is no guarantee of future content success, though the ownership of old Fox properties, if still under the studio's control, might be an inducement. Seems like an odd match to me.

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