Disney-Fox Merger Could be Completed This Year

CBR

Disney-Fox Deal Could Be Completed Earlier Than Expected

By Eirik Gumeny

Published Oct 3, 2018

While the Disney-Fox merger was originally planned to be completed in 2019, a new report reveals that date might be bumped up.

Though the official forecast for the close of the Disney-Fox merger is set for early 2019, personnel moves made this week by Fox have some insiders believing that the deal could be closed sometime this year.

Promotions for five top Fox executives were announced, along with several other organizational realignments, all of which are contingent upon the close of the $71.3 billion deal with Disney, Deadline reports. An announcement this early in the process has led some to surmise that a deal close between the two corporations could be happening sooner rather than later.

Shareholders of The Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox voted in July to approve the purchase of several key Fox assets by Disney, including control of Fox’s film and television production studios, bringing the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool properties into the Marvel Studios fold.

Fox News, Fox Broadcasting and most Fox Sports assets will be spun off into a new company. Previously referred to as “New Fox,” a memo released by Lachlan Murdoch, the soon-to-be chairman and CEO of the new company, seems to indicate that the company will now go by FOX. FOX will be owned by 21st Century Fox shareholders and operated by the Murdoch family.