Walt Disney has acquired twenty first century fox in a seventy one billion dollar deal giving its upcoming streaming service a range of popular content as it takes on Netflix.
One year after Disney announced the $71.3 billion merger, it’s finally official.
The deal, which closed Wednesday at 12:02 a.m. eastern time, reshapes the media landscape and makes Disney an even greater entertainment colossus.
The acquisition also puts Disney in a stronger position to take on Netflix and other streaming companies, when it launches its own service, Disney+, later this year.
The deal will expand Disney’s portfolio of some of the world’s most popular characters, uniting Mickey Mouse, Luke Skywalker and Marvel superheroes with Fox’s X-Men, “Avatar” and “The Simpsons” franchises.
The streaming service, Disney+, aims to make up for the continuing loss of subscribers from ESPN and other cable networks.
The completion of the Fox deal comes nearly a year after Disney won a bidding war against cable company Comcast Corp for the assets.
Disney also said Kevin Mayer and James Kapenstein have stepped down from its board.
Separately, Fox Corporated debuted on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, and named former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, Formula One Group Chief Executive Officer, Chase Carey and two others to its board.
The newly spun-off media company, which will house assets including Fox News Channel and Fox Broadcast Network, is expected to bring in around $10 billion in annual revenue.
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