Rebirth of England.

Chapter 936: Major Acquisition
In early August, a major acquisition in the American entertainment and media industry was finally announced.

On August 8th, American time, Walt Disney Company announced that it would acquire 4st Century Fox Group after divesting some of its businesses for US$450 billion.

According to information obtained by the media, Disney will also assume approximately US$105 billion in debt for Fox, so the total transaction price this time will be as high as US$555 billion!
The businesses of 21st Century Fox acquired by Disney include:

20th Century Fox's film and television production departments, entertainment content cable TV networks, and international television businesses; IPs such as Avatar and The Simpsons, and platforms such as FX Cable Network and National Geographic will all be acquired by Disney...

There is also Fox's stake in Hulu, which competes with Netflix, and India's Star TV, etc...

Disney said the acquisition will greatly enhance its ability to provide content and entertainment options to consumers around the world.

At the same time, some of the 21st Century Fox Group's businesses will be divested and not sold.

These include the Fox Broadcasting Network, Fox News and Business Channel, and the sports information website Big Ten Network. These businesses will be acquired by existing shareholders of 21st Century Fox Group, including the Murdoch family.

Tribune Media Group has been acquired by Sinclair Group.

All of the above businesses directly overlap with Disney's existing ABC broadcast network and ESPN Sports.

In addition, Sky TV, which is wholly owned by 21st Century Fox, has also been put on the market and several media groups have already bid for it.

According to the agreement reached between Disney and 0.2735st Century Fox Group, the transaction will be carried out in the form of a stock exchange, with each Fox shareholder receiving 30 Disney shares for each share, a price determined based on Disney's stock price in the last days.

In addition, Disney will assume Fox's $103 billion in debt.

After Disney acquires Fox, the seven major Hollywood studios will become six - the other five are Marvel-MGM, NBC Universal, Time Warner, Sony Columbia and Viacom Paramount.

After the merger of Disney and 21st Century Fox, it became a giant among them.

In fact, in the original time and space, because the "phone-hacking scandal" broke out later, after that, Sky TV's strength did not decline because of Barron's appearance and the seizure of some Premier League broadcasting rights...

Therefore, the British government has been delaying Murdoch's intention to acquire the remaining 61% of Sky TV. Later, Fox lost the bidding for this part of the shares to Comcast Group.

But now, although Murdoch is still in trouble with the "phone-hacking scandal", it can be considered a blessing in disguise. In their subsequent acquisition of Sky TV, because the TV station's strength had weakened, the British government and Barron did not interfere too much, allowing 150st Century Fox to complete the acquisition of Sky TV for US$ billion.

When 21st Century Fox was willing to put Sky TV on the shelves, Comcast Group began to pursue the TV station again.

Prior to this, among several media groups that bid for Sky TV, Comcast Group's $280 billion bid was the highest.

Just when everyone thought that Comcast Group would finally get what it wanted and acquire Sky TV, a threatening competitor appeared...

On August 8, IC Capital CEO Ivanta announced that they would also join the competition for Sky TV and had submitted an acquisition offer to 5st Century Fox - their offer for Sky TV was US$285 billion, higher than Comcast Group's previous offer.

This time, the media and the public's attention was once again focused on the acquisition of Sky TV. After all, two American companies were "fighting" for a European TV station. I'm afraid no one would want to miss this excitement.

In response to IC Capital’s sudden entry, the chairman of Comcast Group once said bluntly: “IC Capital is a spoiler. They are an investment company and will not be of any help to the development of Sky TV…”

In response, Ivanta also fought back during an interview:
"We are the majority shareholder of Sinclair Group, the second largest TV network in the United States. We also have experience in operating TV stations and have financial advantages. As for Comcast, they are too old, and their outdated experience is not suitable for the development of current TV stations..."

In any case, this kind of back-and-forth talk can only be a competition of volume. What is ultimately decisive is their bid. At present, IC Capital has the upper hand in bidding. Faced with IC Capital's bid of US$285 billion, whether Comcast Group should follow up... still needs to be discussed.

For this purpose, Comcast Group held a special board meeting to vote on the acquisition of Sky TV.

As for the seller, 21st Century Fox, they have now decided to sell the business, so what they care most about is naturally the final bid - the highest bidder wins.

It is said that News Corporation was still hesitant about selling Sky TV even though Comcast offered a good price - they also planned to keep Sky TV.

However, since June this year, Murdoch has been involved in divorce proceedings with Wendy Tang.

This incident also dealt a heavy blow to Murdoch, who was already 82 years old, and he finally decided to sell most of the assets of the st Century Fox Group.

In the eyes of the public, this incident happened a little suddenly...

On June 6, Murdoch filed for divorce in the Manhattan Court of New York, USA, requesting a divorce from his third wife, Wendi Deng - and in less than two weeks it would be their 13th wedding anniversary.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately became the headlines of the entertainment sections of major media around the world.

The couple's sensational yacht wedding in New York is still vivid in our memory: Deng Wendi held a white bouquet of flowers and sweetly snuggled up to Murdoch, while Murdoch happily held her waist...

The next day, Murdoch's spokesman Steven Rubenstein confirmed to the media that Murdoch had filed for divorce and revealed that a sentence in the application document was: "Murdoch and Deng Wendi's relationship has been irretrievably broken."

Although negative news about their marriage has been reported from time to time, when the public recalled that News Corporation was deeply involved in the "phone-hacking scandal" in the UK, Murdoch was attacked by a comedian when attending a British parliamentary hearing, and the "tiger wife" Wendi Deng bravely protected her husband and slapped the attacker... this made the divorce incident far beyond people's expectations.

People still remember the touching scene of Wendy Tang holding Murdoch's hand in the car after attending the hearing. No one would have thought that their marriage would fall into the "irreversible" situation today.

What is even more exaggerated is that Murdoch’s sudden request for divorce not only came as a surprise to bystanders, but even the person involved, Wendy Tang, said that she was kept in the dark and had no idea about it.

After this incident was exposed, it was rumored that Deng Wendi was turned away when she tried to meet with Murdoch. She said that she needed to have a good discussion, but Murdoch refused to meet and flatly announced: Everything is over.

According to a friend of Deng Wendi who revealed to the media, even Deng Wendi herself only learned the truth about the divorce after the fact:

"She (Teng Wendi) told me that she had no idea that they were going to divorce. She did not deny that there were no major conflicts between them, but she did not expect Rupert to make the problem public and directly declare that this marriage was a huge mistake."

It is easy to imagine that a couple who were sweet and loving just a moment ago were suddenly told of divorce the next moment. The emotional contrast is so great that it is really hard to accept.

(End of this chapter)