Bidding wars between Disney and Comcast have begun heating up as the Mickey Mouse owner has offered fox $71.3 billion for its media divisions, an increase over the company’s previous $52.4 billion offer that saw Comcast reply with a $65 billion bid weeks later. 21st Century Fox broke the news in a press release which makes Disney’s offer sound almost finalized considering just how much Fox wants to make a deal with the Walt Disney-founded media giant.
“We are extremely proud of the businesses we have built at 21st Century Fox, and firmly believe that this combination with Disney will unlock even more value for shareholders as the new Disney continues to set the pace at a dynamic time for our industry,” said Rupert Murdoch, Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox. “We remain convinced that the combination of 21CF‘s iconic assets, brands and franchises with Disney‘s will create one of the greatest, most innovative companies in the world.“
Of course, even though Disney seems like it’ll win Fox over, it isn’t out of the woods yet. Comcast’s offer is still on the table and was enough for Fox to reschedule a meeting set for July 10 for shareholders to discuss whether to move forward with the Disney merger. As of now, it doesn’t seem likely Comcast will have much luck in this case, but anything can happen.
As for what details surround Disney’s new bid, not much has changed since the company’s first offer. In fact, the only notable difference is that shareholders will get to choose whether they receive their $38 payments in cash or in Disney stock. This is likely due to Comcast’s all-cash approach that made it more appealing than Disney’s all-stock offer it made before. Now, it seems it’ll be harder to compete to win Fox’s assets over.
We’re still not sure when any of this will be finalized or who will win in the end so stay tuned.
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