Investors approve Fox, Disney merger

LOS ANGELES • 21st Century Fox Inc. shareholders approved the sale of the company’s entertainment assets to Walt Disney Co. Friday, moving one of the biggest media mergers in history nearer to completion.

Both companies’ investors gave their blessings to the US$71.3 billion transaction in separate votes in Manhattan. It’s expected to close in the first half of next year, according to Fox. A new Fox will emerge focused on broadcast TV, sports and the Fox News Channel.

Disney CEO Robert Iger now must turn his attention to the deal’s many loose ends — to consummate the merger and prepare his company for life afterward.

To win regulatory approval in the U.S., Disney has agreed to divest Fox’s 22 regional sports channels. The company already owns ESPN, the biggest sports network.

Disney has pledged to generate $2 billion in cost savings as a result of the merger, which will unite two of the six largest Hollywood studios.

That’s created a lot of angst at Fox and Disney, where overlapping marketing, ad sales and distribution departments at their respective film and TV units could lead to hundreds if not thousands of job cuts. Fox had 21,700 employees at year-end, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, while Disney has 199,000.

Disney has dominated the worldwide box office in recent years, thanks the string of hits from Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. Post-Fox, Disney studio chief Alan Horn will have to make choices about which newly acquired franchises to greenlight, including Avatar, Planet of the Apes and Alien.

Fox has produced several movies based on characters licensed from Marvel, including the X-Men and Wolverine pictures and two Deadpool movies. Those rights will come back to Disney with the merger.