Disney reaches an agreement with Fox and adds The Simpsons, Avatar and X-Men to his wallet



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By Bloomberg

Rupert Murdoch had a successful affair to do and could be the best in his history.

The 87-year-old magnate is about to close the sale of some 21st Century Fox badets to Walt Disney Co. for $ 71 billion. While Murdoch has an uneven track record – in 2005, he invested $ 500 million in MySpace that he never saw – this transaction will consolidate his legacy as the only one he has ever seen. a leading negotiator of agreements in the world of media.

After Comcast's competition forces Disney to increase its winning bid, Murdoch could add about $ 3 billion in Disney shares to a fortune that the Bloomberg Billionaires index already estimates in the United States Murdoch is "one of the greats of all time," Discovery CEO David Zaslav said last week in an interview at the annual press conference of Allen & Company. Murdoch, his sons James and Lachlan, as well as the directors of Disney and Comcast, Bob Iger and Brian Roberts

. The conclusion of the transaction was not always simple. When Murdoch and Iger met for a friendly conversation in August at Moraga Estate, Murdoch's five-acre vineyard in Los Angeles, they pondered the challenges of the fast-paced media industry. Evolution and discussed possible solutions, including an agreement between the two companies, according to the regulator's submissions.

Fox chose to sell parts of his empire, such as his movie studio, FX cable networks, shares of the Hulu streaming company, the Sky station and interests in Star India and National Geographic .

Disney would buy and then sell Fox's regional sports networks to comply with the regulatory requirements

called New Fox, he would separate and be run by Murdoch's eldest son, Lachlan.

New Fox includes the cable news division, along with Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, National Sports and the US television channel, famous for programs like The Simpsons and American Idol, among other titles.

The family Murdoch could get up to 11,800 million US dollars with the agreement. That does not include the 17% stake in New Fox. Although other badysts have more conservative estimates, Bloomberg Intelligen says New Fox is worth about US $ 17 per share or US $ 31,000,000.

In December, Fox accepted a Disney offer of $ 29.54 per share. The company that acted as counsel and legal representative, Institutional Shareholder Services, indicated that the initial sales process was "suboptimal".

"It's clear that Fox's apparent preference for the maximum value for shareholders," added ISS.

Fox investors must thank Roberts' persistence, Comcast, and their unsolicited $ 35 per share offer, which eventually forced Disney to soften its bid by 28.6 percent, US $ 38 per share .

This translates into a 56% premium on the value of Fox's shares on November 3, 2017, the day before the disclosure of the negotiations for the sale, said ISS, who with the shareholder adviser Glbad Lewis & Company argues that investors should support the deal when they vote on July 27th.

Murdoch did a "masterful job," explained Paul Sweeney, a Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst. "He gets quite exciting multiples."

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