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Thursday, March 21, 2019

What The Disney-Fox Deal Means For Rupert Murdoch’s Fortune

At precisely 12:02 A.M. on Wednesday morning, the $71.3 billion mega-merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox—a deal over a year in the making—finally became official. For Disney, this means a trove of new assets, including the 20th Century Fox film and TV studios, an additional 30% stake in Hulu, cable channels FX and National Geographic, and Indian media conglomerate Star India. For Fox, it means a new company, Fox Corporation, which includes Fox News channel and Fox’s broadcast network.

But what does it all mean for Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire media mogul who founded 21st Century Fox and ran it (and its predecessor, News Corporation) for 39 years? Murdoch, who is co-chairman of the new Fox Corp., had an estimated fortune of about $18.4 billion as of noon Wednesday, just about 12 hours after the deal was official. That’s about $4.3 billion more than he was worth on December 13, 2017, the day before Fox and Disney first announced the deal..

Until early Wednesday morning, the biggest chunk of Murdoch’s fortune was his stake in 21st Century Fox. His 17% stake in the company was worth about $13.3 billion at its peak earlier this month. Now that holding has been split into shares of Disney and Fox Corp. On Tuesday, he got one third of a share of Fox Corp. for each share of 21st Century Fox he owned. In addition, Murdoch had the option of swapping his 21st Century Fox shares into either a portion of a Disney share (trading at $107 a share) or $51.57 cash per share. Forbes calculated Murdoch’s fortune Wednesday assuming he elected to take Disney shares rather than cash. (Filings with the SEC expected at a later date should provide more detail on Murdoch’s holdings.)

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It means that once again the government allows a monopoly to occur which will crush any small businesses the GOP swear up and down they support.

Anonymous said...

Big government is good. As a democrat I don't want big government that's why I'm voting for Corey Booker. He understands what it's like.

Anonymous said...

Cut the CATV cord! AONN on KLOWD TV!

Anonymous said...

12:17- WTF!?

Anonymous said...

Which means, Fox news will no longer be a go to channel to compare truth from fake news. Say good bye to America as we knew it.

Anonymous said...

You say you are voting for booker. Time for 12:17 to do some research and gain some smarts.

Trump/Pence 2020!

Anonymous said...

It now means Wolverine joins the MCU!!! Hooray!!!

Anonymous said...

You mean Cory Booker understands how to be a complete jerk. Understand what "it's like" sounds like you have a mommy problem.

Anonymous said...

They are doing to America what they did to Englishstan destroy freedom of speech and bring Islam.