21st Jun 2018 06:30
LOS ANGELES (Alliance News) - Walt Disney Co has raised its offer to purchase Twenty-First Century Fox Inc to USD71.3 billion, trumping an offer made by rival Comcast Corp.
Disney's Wednesday offer is much higher than its original offer of USD52.4 billion and also exceeds Comcast's USD65 billion offer last week.
"The acquisition of 21st Century Fox will bring significant financial value to the shareholders of both companies, and after six months of integration planning we're even more enthusiastic and confident in the strategic fit of the assets and the talent at Fox," Disney chief executive Robert Iger said Wednesday.
The battle for Fox is a signal of changes afoot in the US media landscape as cable companies seek to regain customers from streaming services such as Netflix, which continues to grow its subscriber base.
Fox said in a statement Wednesday it had entered into an "amended and restated Disney Merger Agreement."
"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," Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch said.
Comcast made its latest bid, an all-cash offer, on June 13, a day after a federal judge approved telecommunication giant AT&T's proposal to buy Time Warner, which the administration of President Donald Trump had tried to stop.
Disney's initial offer was stock-based, but Wednesday's bid mixes cash and stock for the company which has produced hit franchises including superhero movies such as the X-Men series.
Disney is close to winning US antitrust approval for its Fox deal, creating a potentially insurmountable hurdle for raised bid by Comcast, Bloomberg reported citing a person familiar with the matter.
The US Justice Department is set to approve the deal in as soon as two weeks, the report said. Disney has agreed to sell some assets to address competition problems stemming from the tie-up, according to the person.
Under its raised offer, Disney has agreed to acquire for a price of USD38 per Fox share the same businesses it had agreed to acquire under the previously announced merger agreement, including Fox's stake in the UK's Sky PLC.
The price represents a significant increase over the purchase price of approximately USD28 per share in the initial agreement that had been announced in December 2017.
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