Fox Ready To Close Disney Deal By January 1st

Disney’s purchase of 21st Century Fox is getting very close, with both companies this week announcing some their corporate restructuring for after the buyout.  With Fox’s Peter Rice telling employees at a “town hall” event on Wednesday that the deal will close on January 1st.  Regulatory processes will delay the sale, but its expected to be finalised during the first half of 2019.

During the town meeting, Fox leaders Peter Rice and John Nallen answered questions related to the assets and staffers moving to Disney, plus who would be going to the “New Fox”.    As there are expected to be many job losses due to this buyout, with the majority of layoffs will be contained to those divisions going to Disney, with “New Fox” units such as Fox Sports, Fox Broadcasting, and Fox News being less affected.

With Disney looking to cut $2.6 billion in post-acquisition costs, this could lead to between 5,000 and 10,000 staff being reduced.   “Inevitably there are going to be layoffs,” Rice said without elaborating further.

Disney have taken on major companies before, such as Pixar, Marvel and LucasFilm, so Fox isn’t the first company to be brought into the Disney fold, however there is a different culture at Disney, but Peter Rice said “It’s fundamentally creative. It’s not a cable company, not a phone company, it has creativity at its core.”

Expect more details on the big changes coming to Disney and Fox in the coming months ahead.