Disney and Comcast have been locked in a fierce bidding war lately, with both companies attempting to acquire 21st Century Fox's entertainment division. However, Comcast dropped out of the running earlier this month, clearing the path for Disney to move forward with its purchase.
The Department of Justice had already given its conditional approval of the merger, provided Disney divest Fox's regional sports networks, but there was still one major roadblock for the companies - the shareholders.
Fortunately for the companies, Fox and Disney's investors were more than happy to vote in favor of the deal; both shareholder meetings lasted just under 15 minutes.
According to Variety, the voting was almost entirely unanimous, with only a single individual voicing his concern that Disney's $71.3 billion offer was too high. Regardless, neither company was swayed by this argument, and the transaction is set to complete sometime in the first half of 2019.
"Combining the 21CF businesses with Disney and establishing new ‘Fox’ will unlock significant value for our shareholders," said 21st Century Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch, in a statement. "We are grateful to our shareholders for approving this transaction. I want to thank all of our executives and colleagues for their enormous contributions in building 21st Century Fox over the past decades."
Only time will tell how Disney plans to make use of Fox's assets, but based on the former's acquisitions of other major entertainment studios, significant changes could be coming to the way Fox does business in the future.
https://www.techspot.com/news/75707-disney-21st-century-fox-713-billion-merger-receives.html
