News Disney and Fox come to terms -- announcement soon; huge IP acquisition

[seascape]

Agreed. The communication has been happening in filings, press releases and news leaks. Fox filed that it may or not up its bid for SKY and that Disney had to support the next move. That signaled that Fox/Disney may be willing to give up SKY. Comcast shortly after let slip that they may or may not bid for Fox and focus on SKY. Comcast reinforced that today with Roberts giving a congratulatory message to Iger and Murdoch, which I view as a request for Fox/Disney to let SKY go.

I respect what Roberts did today, but he didn't have a lot of room to maneuver here, Iger and the US Gov blocked his options. The big question is if after next week, Fox/Disney decide to bid up SKY.

And no way does Disney give up SKY or get Comcast's Hulu share without some agreement on Marvel rights. This is the only real chance Iger has to get them back. If it doesn't happen now, everyone can forget any chance of it happening in the future.

I agree that all the issues should be addressed now. Roberts did say some nice things in his statement and it could be the start of a resolution. I still have my doubts because I still see biased coverage on CNBC but it's a start. I also want things to get resolved soon because once the two deals close we will be back to the themepark war and if Disney nets about $10 billion from Comcast and $15 billion for the RSNs they can pay off all the best they take on for the purchase in a year and still have $8 to $10 billion for additional investments by cutting the $20 billion stock buyback program. All this without taking into account one penny profit from the added assets. Properly run Disney should be much more profitable with a much higher stock price.

BTW the Disney Fox deal sets a range of Didney stock price for the conversion portion. Once the price breaks $114.32 the conversion is .1662 shares of Disney stock for each share of Fox stock plus $19.00 cash. As of now 11:11 AM 7/19/3018 the Disney share price is $114.00

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

I agree with most of your post but there is no way they had a meeting about this in ID. That would have illegal.

Not officially.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

I agree that all the issues should be addressed now. Roberts did say some nice things in his statement and it could be the start of a resolution. I still have my doubts because I still see biased coverage on CNBC but it's a start. I also want things to get resolved soon because once the two deals close we will be back to the themepark war and if Disney nets about $10 billion from Comcast and $15 billion for the RSNs they can pay off all the best they take on for the purchase in a year and still have $8 to $10 billion for additional investments by cutting the $20 billion stock buyback program. All this without taking into account one penny profit from the added assets. Properly run Disney should be much more profitable with a much higher stock price.

BTW the Disney Fox deal sets a range of Didney stock price for the conversion portion. Once the price breaks $114.32 the conversion is .1662 shares of Disney stock for each share of Fox stock plus $19.00 cash. As of now 11:11 AM 7/19/3018 the Disney share price is $114.00

Don't FOX/FOXA shareholders receive .3324 shares if the deal closes and the stock price is over 114.32? It'll probably shoot up a few percentage points in the next few months to ~120 or so by the time it closes.

 

[seascape]

Don't FOX/FOXA shareholders receive .3324 shares if the deal closes and the stock price is over 114.32? It'll probably shoot up a few percentage points in the next few months to ~120 or so by the time it closes.

That would be based on the option of choosing all stock. However if the price of Disney stock is over $114.32 a person would be a fool to not ask for all stock and therefore everyone will get a 50/50 split.

 

[Rodan75]

I agree that all the issues should be addressed now. Roberts did say some nice things in his statement and it could be the start of a resolution. I still have my doubts because I still see biased coverage on CNBC but it's a start. I also want things to get resolved soon because once the two deals close we will be back to the themepark war and if Disney nets about $10 billion from Comcast and $15 billion for the RSNs they can pay off all the best they take on for the purchase in a year and still have $8 to $10 billion for additional investments by cutting the $20 billion stock buyback program. All this without taking into account one penny profit from the added assets. Properly run Disney should be much more profitable with a much higher stock price.

BTW the Disney Fox deal sets a range of Didney stock price for the conversion portion. Once the price breaks $114.32 the conversion is .1662 shares of Disney stock for each share of Fox stock plus $19.00 cash. As of now 11:11 AM 7/19/3018 the Disney share price is $114.00

In one of the CNBC videos, someone said they had called Iger on the press release. And it was obvious it was the first Iger had heard of it and apparently refrained from saying anything nice about Roberts, which is understandable given the drama Roberts started here, but it also made me wonder if Disney is planning on increasing the SKY offer.

Those nice words may get Iger to back down and save Comcast some cash. It will be interesting to see how things shake out in the weeks following the vote.

I'm with you though, at the moment things seem to be calming down to the best possible conclusion which allows everyone to focus on exploiting those assets and hopefully making Central Florida an even better Theme Park destination.

 

[seascape]

Reviewing the offer. Disney will issue 312,281,316 shares of stock based on a $114.32 or more stock price. This is 30,718,685 less shares than the 343,000,000 mentioned in their press realease. There is also $35.7 billion in cash. One way to look at this is that saving 30,718,685 shares is the same as a $3.5 billion stock buyback at 114.32.

 

[bartholomr4]

Reviewing the offer. Disney will issue 312,281,316 shares of stock based on a $114.32 or more stock price. This is 30,718,685 less shares than the 343,000,000 mentioned in their press realease. There is also $35.7 billion in cash. One way to look at this is that saving 30,718,685 shares is the same as a $3.5 billion stock buyback at 114.32.

FOX and FOXA wills start to track DIS tick for tick once the stock gets above the $114.32.....

 

[imperius]

Everyone say it with me. Comcast isn’t giving up Marvel Theme park rights.

 

[bartholomr4]

Everyone say it with me. Comcast isn’t giving up Marvel Theme park rights.

To be clear, Comcast doesn't have to give up it's rights to the Marvel Character use in their parks, it just has to relax the part of the contract which would enable Disney to use the Characters in the Disney Parks.... Disney would continue to gather Comcast dollars for use of the Characters until Comcast transitions them on their own timeline out of the park....

 

[seascape]

Everyone say it with me. Comcast isn’t giving up Marvel Theme park rights.

You are absolutely correct that Comcast does not have to give up the Marvel themepark rights. However, after the 27th when the UK says they have to pay Disney the same £14.75 a share for the 49% Disney/Fox owns and that has to be in cash, Comcast will need to borrow more money. As for the 30% of Hulu Comcast owns there is no power Comcast has to set the price. It is up to Disney, AT&T or some other company to decide what it is worth. Now the question is how much does Comcast want Sky and what are they willing to give Disney to get it at £14.75 a share? Do you really think they want to keep the Marvel themepark rights more than they want Sky? Do you really think they won't go to £15.75 a share if forced? That would cost them $2.3 billion more than their £14.75 offer. £16.75 would cost $4.6 billion. It is in everyone's interest to resolve these issues with a major fight that will only cost Comcast billions more. Disney only has to buy 61% more of Sky while Comcast needs to buy 100%. Based on Robert's statement this morning it is clear he wants a complete solution to all issues and will be reasonable. After all this is now the second time he lost to Disney.

 

[imperius]

More so do you really think the Orlando theme park rights are that important to Disney to give up sky? The answer is no.

 

[seascape]

More so do you really think the Orlando theme park rights are that important to Disney to give up sky? The answer is no.

Personally I want Disney to get Sky too and as I have said spinoff the RSNs as a separate company rather than sell them. However, if they can get a good deal for Sky that gives them something extra then I would agree. As for the Marvel themepark rights, I would not pay Comcast one cent. All Universal has is the rights to use the Marvel name in the US for themepark rides but only can have rides in Orlando. In just about 10 years they lose Japan and will not be able to advertise "Marvel rides" outside the US. So how much are they really worth to Universal? Disney will have Marvel rides and attractions at WDW, DL, HK, TDL and TDS, DLP and Shanghai. Who do you think will benefit more from Marvel rides?

 

[imperius]

Universal benefits more where it counts. Disney hasn’t used Marvel well anywhere they are allowed so it’s not it great hands there either.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Disney can't put Marvel attractions that Universal has in Japan.

 

[seascape]

Universal benefits more where it counts. Disney hasn’t used Marvel well anywhere they are allowed so it’s not it great hands there either.

I guess you haven't been to or read the reviews of the GotG:MB ride in California which have had better reviews that anything except HP the Universal has put out recently. I will give Universal credit for the Simpson's land in California which has had great reviews for how much better it is than the one in Orlando.

 

[imperius]

I guess you haven't been to or read the reviews of the GotG:MB ride in California which have had better reviews that anything except HP the Universal has put out recently. I will give Universal credit for the Simpson's land in California which has had great reviews for how much better it is than the one in Orlando.

Yeah, but it’s still a reskin. They cared so much about having Marvel they just changed an already existing ride. Also see Antman and Iron man overseas.

 

[seascape]

Disney can't put Marvel attractions that Universal has in Japan.

The contract in Japan ends in about 10 years. Then you will see all the Marvel Characters leave Universal Japan and move over to Disney. As I have stated before, Universal should be willing to resolve this issue today. Let Universal have worldwide rights to Spiderman and Hulk rides but not the Marvel name or anything else. Universal gets something this way and so does Disney. The themepark rights that Universal owns are not really worth much to either company. The m ovie rights and merchandise are where the value is. On the other hand worldwide themepark rights are worth a great deal. Development costs can be split among many parks and result of huge cost savings and advertising advantages.

 

[KrazyKat]

Question, could Disney work out a deal with Comcast to sell them the RSNs for a certain price which could also include possibly gaining back the rights to use MARVEL in Disney parks? Disney would be smart to let Comcast still use the comic book version of their Marvel characters (why not have your competition sell and promote something you own) and bring the MCU versions to Disney parks (including Orlando)?

Also, they could gain full rights to Hulk which Universal still has (which is why there hasn't been another solo Hulk film since 2008 which Universal released with Marvel Studios).

 

[mab7689]

I am living in a fairytale here but if Comcast were to acquire Sky I'd love it if they were to grant their customers access to an NBCSN online streaming account because as a football fan I'd love to see the Premier League matches that aren't televised in the UK. No doubt in the real world there are legalities that would prevent that haha.

 

[LSLS]

Question, could Disney work out a deal with Comcast to sell them the RSNs for a certain price which could also include possibly gaining back the rights to use MARVEL in Disney parks? Disney would be smart to let Comcast still use the comic book version of their Marvel characters (why not have your competition sell and promote something you own) and bring the MCU versions to Disney parks (including Orlando)?

Also, they could gain full rights to Hulk which Universal still has (which is why there hasn't been another solo Hulk film since 2008 which Universal released with Marvel Studios).

To do that, Disney would have to sell RSN for less (to include the cost of the Orlando rights). I have very little doubt that Disney would rather have the money than the naming rights. It's not like Disney doesn't have plenty of IP to use if they want already.