Disney-Fox Deal Brings Major Franchises Together
The Walt Disney Co.’s proposed deal to buy 21st Century Fox for $52 billion will bring a broad range of licensed properties under the Disney umbrella from National Geographic Partners to hit TV series such as “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers” and major film franchises such as Avatar, Planet of the Apes and Ice Age.
It also would return the Deadpool and X-Men franchises to Marvel Entertainment, which sold the production rights to them to Fox as it struggled financially prior to its $4 billion sale to Disney in 2009.
Disney already has a relationship with Fox and Avatar, with Avatar lands in its theme parks, the first of which – Pandora: World of Avatar — opened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL in May. Also part of deal would be National Geographic Partners, a 73% Fox-owned venture with the National Geographic Society that was formed in 2015 and includes products as well as a location-based program that features activity centers and retail stores.
Not immediately clear is how Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products would mesh with Disney. The Fox consumer products group underwent a major restructuring last year with the hiring of former Disney Consumer Products and DreamWorks executive Jim Fielding as president. Fielding spent more than a decade with Disney Consumer Products, departing in 2012 after a four-year stint as President of Disney Stores Worldwide to become CEO of retailer Claire’s Stores.
In conjunction with the Fox deals, Disney also said it’s extending CEO Bob Iger’s employment contract, slated to expire in July 2018, until 2021.