Disney and Fox shareholders approve merger deal

Shareholders approved Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century’s Fox film and television studios on Friday, which will pave the way for the House of Mouse to add Fox’s networks and intellectual property to its holdings.

At the vote in Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Friday, shareholders from both sides agreed to a $71.3bn purchase that will hand over Rupert Murdoch’s media empire over to Disney.

Now Disney will have to go through regulatory approvals from various “international territories,” even though the US Justice Department has already approved the deal.

The deal was complicated to close after Disney offered $52bn for the assets and Comcast made its own offer ($65bn) competing for Fox. Disney was prompted to up its offer to $71.3bn and Comcast finally threw the towel earlier this month.

Disney will acquire most of Fox’s networks but those it does not will spun into a new company called New Fox that will include, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports and local TV stations.

Disney will also be acquiring vast amounts of new content, including film franchises such as Alien, Avatar, and X-Men. That adds to an already giant content stockpile that includes Lucasfilm, Marvel Entertainment and Pixar Animation Studios.