This morning, 21st Century Fox is one step closer to joining the Walt Disney Company family. Today, the two companies announced that their transaction is expected to close on March 20th.
- In an announcement to shareholders, Disney and Fox said that acquisition is to go into effect at 12:02 a.m. Eastern Time on March 20th.
- As a result, the deadline for Fox shareholders to make their selections for whether they’d like to receive cash or Disney stock in the transaction will be at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on March 14th.
- Although the transaction missed this year’s Disney annual meeting of the shareholders by a couple of weeks, the company did give a glimpse into what the merged company will look like, with Disney CEO Bob Iger noting that The Walt Disney Company will continue to make films under the 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight banners.
- Shareholders in attendance at the meeting were also treated to a sizzle reel of Fox properties and a look at what’s ahead in the Avatar franchise from James Cameron.
- Once the transaction with Fox closes, Disney will need to sell the 22 regional sports networks its acquiring within 90 days per U.S. Department of Justice regulatory requirements.
- Luckily, the company has reportedly already found a buying for one of those networks as the New York Yankees alongside Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Amazon are reportedly set to buy Disney’s stake in the YES network in a deal that values the network at around $3.5 billion.