Pluto4President
DIS Veteran ºoº DVC 4ME
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2000
- Messages
- 1,852
How bad can it be?????
Wednesday October 24, 6:43 pm Eastern Time
Disney Completes Fox Family Deal at Lower Purchase Price
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co [NYSE
IS - news]. Wednesday completed its purchase of Fox Family Worldwide Inc. for $5.2 billion -- about $100 million less than the original purchase price announced in July.
Disney bought the company from News Corp. and Saban Entertainment, which each owned 49.5 percent. Investment banker Allen & Co. owned 1 percent of the company.
Disney confirmed that the final purchase price included $2.9 billion in cash and the assumption of $2.3 billion in debt. The original deal called for a payment of $3 billion in cash.
News Corp. was not immediately available for comment.
The reduction of the purchase price was more of a psychological boost for Disney than a significant savings, according to analyst David Miller of Sutro & Co.
``In the long run it really doesn't make a difference,'' Miller said. ``It still was a fairly expensive acquisition for them.''
The closing deal comes at a critical time for News Corp., which needs cash to finance its bid for Hughes Electronics. News Corp. hopes to buy the DirecTV satellite television business from Hughes, which is owned by General Motors.
Denver-based Echostar is also in the running for Hughes.
Fox Family, which Disney plans to rename ABC Family, reaches about 81 million cable subscribers in the United States. Disney said Wednesday it will re-brand the channel in the first week of November and will announce programming changes in January.
The deal expands Disney's programming reach worldwide with a 76 percent ownership in Fox Kids Europe, a children's programming channel that reaches 24 million homes, and a 10 million-subscriber channel in Latin America called Fox Kids.
``We are pleased to have completed this strategic acquisition, and are now turning with excitement to the launch of our new ABC Family service in the United States and the continued expansion of the Fox Kids services, which will ultimately be re-branded, in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere,'' Disney chairman and chief executive officer Michael Eisner said in a statement.
Wednesday October 24, 6:43 pm Eastern Time
Disney Completes Fox Family Deal at Lower Purchase Price
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co [NYSE
IS - news]. Wednesday completed its purchase of Fox Family Worldwide Inc. for $5.2 billion -- about $100 million less than the original purchase price announced in July.Disney bought the company from News Corp. and Saban Entertainment, which each owned 49.5 percent. Investment banker Allen & Co. owned 1 percent of the company.
Disney confirmed that the final purchase price included $2.9 billion in cash and the assumption of $2.3 billion in debt. The original deal called for a payment of $3 billion in cash.
News Corp. was not immediately available for comment.
The reduction of the purchase price was more of a psychological boost for Disney than a significant savings, according to analyst David Miller of Sutro & Co.
``In the long run it really doesn't make a difference,'' Miller said. ``It still was a fairly expensive acquisition for them.''
The closing deal comes at a critical time for News Corp., which needs cash to finance its bid for Hughes Electronics. News Corp. hopes to buy the DirecTV satellite television business from Hughes, which is owned by General Motors.
Denver-based Echostar is also in the running for Hughes.
Fox Family, which Disney plans to rename ABC Family, reaches about 81 million cable subscribers in the United States. Disney said Wednesday it will re-brand the channel in the first week of November and will announce programming changes in January.
The deal expands Disney's programming reach worldwide with a 76 percent ownership in Fox Kids Europe, a children's programming channel that reaches 24 million homes, and a 10 million-subscriber channel in Latin America called Fox Kids.
``We are pleased to have completed this strategic acquisition, and are now turning with excitement to the launch of our new ABC Family service in the United States and the continued expansion of the Fox Kids services, which will ultimately be re-branded, in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere,'' Disney chairman and chief executive officer Michael Eisner said in a statement.
