Shareholders of the Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox, in two separate meetings, voted in favour of a $71.3 billion (approximately Rs 4.9 lakh crore) purchase that gives Disney a majority stake in the Rupert Murdoch-owned media conglomerate. 21st Century Fox announced the results at a special shareholders’ meeting in New York, Reuters reported.
Disney won a bidding war against United States cable company Comcast Corp that had made a $66 billion pitch for some of Fox’s most popular television shows and movie franchises, including the “X-Men” and “The Simpsons.”
In June, the United States Department of Justice had approved Walt Disney’s proposal to buy the firm.
The acquisition contest Comcast and Disney is part of a larger race to grab a stake in the thriving entertainment industry, where media companies are spending big money to compete with Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
In December, Fox had struck an all-stock deal with Disney worth $52.4 billion (Rs 3.36 lakh crore), shortly after rebuffing an offer from Comcast that was worth roughly $60 billion. In February, Comcast submitted a £22.1-billion (approximately Rs 2 lakh crore) bid to buy British broadcasting company Sky, challenging an existing offer from media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s company.
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