MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS – UNITED STATES

High-flyer takes on Hollywood

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Original article by Jessica Toonkel, Joe Flint
The Australian – Page: 17 : 10-Jul-24

Skydance Media founder David Ellison says he aims to transform Paramount Global into a "media and tech hybrid" to enable it to compete with rivals such as Disney and Netflix. The complex merger deal will initially see Skydance acquire Paramount’s major shareholder, National Amusements, for $US1.75bn; Paramount will in turn acquire Skydance for about $US4.7bn. Skydance has identified around $US2bn worth of cost savings at Paramount, and aims to make the iconic film studio cashflow positive by the end of 2026. Paramount’s assets include the Ten Network in Australia.

CORPORATES
SKYDANCE MEDIA LLC, PARAMOUNT GLOBAL, NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS INCORPORATED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Activist investor aims to scuttle Murdoch’s $39b megamerger

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Original article by Elizabeth Knight
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 23-Nov-22

Irenic Capital owns two per cent of News Corporation’s Class B shares. The activist investor opposes Rupert Murdoch’s proposal to merge News Corp and Fox Corp, warning that reunifying the two companies would be expensive and distracting. He has written to the committee of News Corp directors that is assessing the merger proposal, urging them to recommend not proceeding with the deal. Irenic instead is of the view that News Corp should spin off its real estate assets, which include a 61 per cent stake in realestate.com.au owner REA Group.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOX CORPORATION, IRENIC CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU

The hidden message in Rupert Murdoch’s latest manoeuvre

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Original article by John McDuling
The Age – Page: Online : 18-Oct-22

Rupert Murdoch’s proposal to reunify News Corp and Fox Corp is worthy of scrutiny. Both companies have changed significantly since being split in 2013. News Corp now derives the bulk of its revenue from digital real estate advertising rather than newspapers; likewise, Fox Corp’s focus has shifted to live news and sports after selling most of its entertainment assets to Disney. Combining the two companies makes some strategic sense, with the potential for greater cross-promotion across media platforms. Meanwhile, Barclays analysts have speculated that the reunification proposal may be aimed at preparing the companies for even more challenging economic conditions.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOX CORPORATION, BARCLAYS BANK PLC

Twitter deal could be terrific: Sims

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Original article by John Davidson, Tess Bennett, Yolanda Redrup
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 27-Apr-22

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s former chairman Rod Sims has welcomed the acquisition of Twitter by US billionaire Elon Musk. He says the $64.1bn deal will be "terrific" for Australian businesses if Musk follows through with his plans for Twitter, which including making its algorithms open source and cracking down on disinformation on the social media platform. However, Reset Australia’s executive director Chris Cooper says the Twitter buyout demonstrates the need for proper regulation of technology companies.

CORPORATES
TWITTER INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, RESET AUSTRALIA

News Corp buys oil information service for $1.56b

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Original article by Miranda Ward
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 4-Aug-21

Global media giant News Corporation has struck a deal to buy Oil Price Information Service, which provides referencing pricing and news and analytics for the energy and renewables sectors. News Corp will pay $US1.15bn ($1.56bn) for OPIS, which will become part of its Dow Jones Professional Information Business. OPIS is forecast to post revenue of around $US129m in the year to 30 November. News Corp has made a number of other acquisitions during 2021.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, OIL PRICE INFORMATION SERVICE, DOW JONES AND COMPANY

Amazon to buy MGM for $US6.5 billion, excluding debt

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Original article by Joe Flint, Dave Sebastian
The Wall Street Journal – Page: Online : 27-May-21

Electronic commerce giant Amazon.com has struck a deal to acquire Hollywood film studio MGM. The deal will bolster Amazon’s subscription video-on-demand service as competition in the streaming market intensifies. MGM’s library of more than 4,000 films includes franchises such as James Bond, while the studio also produces television shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale. There is also scope for Amazon to create spin-offs from MGM’s popular franchises, a strategy used by rival streaming services. Amazon will pay $US6.5bn for MGM, or $US8.45bn including debt.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER INCORPORATED

Disney in Comcast deal to take control of hot property Hulu

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Original article by Joe Flint
The Australian – Page: 21 : 16-May-19

US media group Comcast has struck a deal to sell its one-third stake in streaming video service Hulu to Walt Disney Company. The deal could allow Disney to assume full ownership of Hulu in 2024. Hulu boasted more than 25 million subscribers in 2018, compared with just six million in 2014, and Disney has forecast that Hulu’s domestic operations will become profitable in fiscal 2023 or 2024. Disney plans to launch its own streaming service, which expected to target a different audience to Hulu.

CORPORATES
HULU LLC, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, COMCAST CORPORATION, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED

Pollak sceptical about Disney’s deal with Fox

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Original article by Natasha Gillezeau
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 18-Jan-19

Loftus Peak’s chief investment officer Alex Pollak has queried Disney’s decision to pay $US71.3bn ($97bn) for 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets in 2018. He notes that both Disney and Fox largely generate their revenue streams from the sale of content to cable and pay-TV companies, but these sources of revenue are under increasing threat from video-on-demand services like Netflix. Pollak says Rupert Murdoch sold 21st Century Fox because he decided that it could not compete with companies like Netflix and Amazon.

CORPORATES
WALT DISNEY COMPANY, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, CARSALES.COM LIMITED – ASX CAR, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, COMCAST CORPORATION, LOFTUS PEAK

Comcast surrenders to Disney in bid for 21st Century Fox

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Original article by Anousha Sakoui, Gerry Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 20-Jul-18

Comcast will press ahead with its takeover bid for pan-European broadcaster company Sky after withdrawing from the bidding war for the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets. Comcast’s cash offer of $US65bn for the Fox assets forced rival bidder Walt Disney Company to increase its offer to $US71bn. Disney’s bid has received clearance from antitrust regulators.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, COMCAST CORPORATION, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, SKY PLC, AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE, UNIVERSAL PICTURES, NBC TELEVISION NETWORK, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED

Disney’s Fox bid wins US approval

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Original article by Edmund Lee, Cecilia Kang
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 29-Jun-18

Walt Disney’s proposed $US71bn deal to acquire the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets has been cleared by the US Justice Department, only six months after it was initially proposed. However, the Justice Department has ruled that ESPN owner Disney must divest Fox’s regional sports to satisfy competition concerns. Jefferies media analyst John Janedis says the Fox board will probably be obliged to see if rival suitor Comcast makes a revised bid, but he notes that any such offer would take at least six months to receive approval from the DoJ.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE, ESPN INCORPORATED, JEFFERIES AND COMPANY, HULU LLC, AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, CNN, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, SKY PLC, STAR INDIA, MARVEL ENTERPRISES, LUCASFILM, PIXAR, FOX NEWS CHANNEL