Shareholders at Disney and 21st Century Fox have voted to approve Disney's $71.3 billion bid to purchase Fox's media assets, according to Variety.
Fox initially agreed to a $52.4 billion bid from Disney in December, but an all-cash $65 billion offer from Comcast forced Disney to increase its offer. Comcast formally ended its pursuit of Fox's media assets earlier this month. The shareholder from both companies gathered at separate meeting rooms at the New York City Hilton Midtown.
"Combining the [21st Century Fox] businesses with Disney and establishing a new 'Fox' will unlock significant value for our shareholders,” said Rupert Murdoch, executive co-chairman of 21st Century Fox. "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."
Disney CEO Bob Iger expressed excitement for the formal approval of the deal his company has long been pursuing.
"We're incredibly pleased that shareholders of both companies have granted approval for us to move forward and are confident in our ability to create significant long-term value through this acquisition of Fox's premier assets," said Mr. Iger, according to Variety.