Is it possible that in the near future Walt Disney (NYSE:$DIS) could soon own a majority of 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:$FOXA)?
Over the last few weeks, according to CNBC sources, Fox and Disney have been in talks over the possibility of Fox striking a deal to sell most of itself to Disney. Although the outcome is uncertain, Disney did have an interest in buying 21st Century Fox’s movie studio, TV production assets, a few entertainment channels and some international assets. Fox broadcasting networks and its local affiliates, Fox News and Fox Business Channel would be off limits. Fox Shares skyrocketed from 9.9% to 27.45% in the stock market today, while Disney climbed 2% to 100.65. The companies report earning will be released later on this week.
Netflix (NASDAQ:$NFLX), a streaming video heavyweight, however, closed up only 0.1% at 200.13. There were talks late last year regarding the impact of the possible Disney acquisition of Netflix, despite the fact that neither companies had indicated that such negotiations were in the works.
The shares of fellow streamers Amazon.com (NASDAQ:$AMZN) were of little impact, climbing 0.8%.
Due to the entry of Netflix, Amazon and other streaming platforms in recent years, traditional media conglomerates have felt the extreme pressure to stem the flow of cord-cutters.
For Fox, being open to deal with Disney could work to their advantage, as piggybacking off of Disney’s reach and scale may not be possible if they choose to continue solo.
Both Disney and Fox, along with Time Warner (NYSE:$TWX) and Comcast’s (NASDAQ:$CMCSA) NBCUniversal are joint owners of the streaming video service Hulu.
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