Disney offered Fox $38 per share, $3 per share higher than the last Comcast bid and $10 higher than Disney’s December bid. The new offer has more flexibility than Comcast’s bid, according to Fox officials.
Disney’s bid allows Fox shareholders to either take their payment as cash, stock or up to a 50-50 split. They also have agreed to assume $13.8 billion of Fox’s net debt. Disney’s previous offer was all stock, but their hybrid bid was brought about by Comcast’s $65 billion cash offer.
Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, said consumer demand and competition from digital players like Netflix, motivated his company’s acquisition of Fox’s media assets.
“Direct-to-consumer distribution has actually become an even more compelling proposition in the six months since we announced the deal,” said Mr. Iger, according to Deadline. “There has just been not only a tremendous amount of development in that space, but clearly the consumer is voting—loudly.”
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