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08:42 PST 06/06/2018
by
Georg Szalai
,
The European Commission was fortunate enough to approve the takeover of $ 71.3 billion as is, to require concessions or to open a four-month investigation.
European competition regulators approved Walt Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets for $ 71.3 billion, subject to certain conditions, namely the sale of the company's shares in Europe in networks such as Lifetime and History.
The European Commission made this announcement on Tuesday night, European time.
"In response to the Commission's competition concerns, Disney is committed to divesting its interests on all the factories it controls in the European Economic Area (EEA), namely: History, H2, Crime & Investigation, Blaze and Lifetime channels, "said the European Commission. "These channels are currently controlled by A + E Television Networks, a joint venture of Disney and Hearst, and the commitments taken completely eliminate the duplication of Disney and Fox's activities in the wholesale supply of EEE news channels. "
"Therefore, the Commission concluded that the proposed transaction, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns and the Commission's decision is conditional on full compliance with the commitments."
Disney said: "We welcome the decision of the European Commission to authorize the operation, the only corrective action to be taken is the disengagement of our interests in Europe from the History, H2, Crime + Investigation, Blaze and Lifetime Disney will continue to own 50% of A & E, excluding the companies operating these channels in Europe. "
He added: "We continue to seek authorization as quickly as possible in the remaining jurisdictions".
The European Commission set Tuesday the deadline to approve the takeover in the state, require concessions or, in case of serious problem, open a four-month investigation into the transaction. Conditional approval was considered likely since the regulators had previously stated that Disney had offered concessions without detailing them.
The US Department of Justice has cleared the agreement reached in June, provided that Disney sells Fox's 22 regional sports networks.
The deal will allow Disney, led by President and CEO Bob Iger, to acquire Fox's television and movie studios, FX Networks and National Geographic, Star India television giant, and Fox in Hulu. It was also originally planned to include Fox's 39% stake in the European giant Pay TV Sky, but companies have recently announced that they would sell this stake if Comcast had won an auction for Sky in September. Fox's stake in Endemol Shine, owned 50% by Fox, will however have been revealed Tuesday by the announcement of the sale.
Disney has rejected a counter-offer on Comcast's Fox by softening its own offer.
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