Fans hoping that the X-Men, Wolverine, Deadpool and Fantastic Four properties will be returning to Marvel with the purchase of Fox Studios by Disney might have those hopes crushed.
It’s learned that there may be new competition to buy Fox Studios.
CNBC reports their parent company, Comcast, might actually try to outbid Disney for the purchase of Fox Studios.
Apparently there is a lot of confusion in regards to how big corporations can be sold and merged under the Trump administration and with the Department of Justice filing ant-trust lawsuits.
The DOJ has filed to stop AT&T from purchasing Time Warner (which includes HBO, Warner Bros., etc), with it said that Comcast is waiting in the wings to see if the deal ends up going through, and if it does, Comcast may attempt to purchase Fox Studios.
Disney purchasing Fox Studios is not a done deal as shareholders of Fox still have to vote to approve the deal; a higher bid by Comcast may see the shareholders turn down the Disney offer.
It is further reported that Disney has plans in place if Comcast does end up bidding for Fox Studios, which may include a higher bid to seal the deal, so Marvel fans don’t have to panic just yet.
Regarding all the talk of selling various corporations as of late, it mirrors recent warnings from Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Tony Vinciquerra, who cautioned that Sony could be crushed by the larger tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google.
It’s actually stated the reason for Rupert Murdoch selling off Fox Studios is because of having to compete with the tech giants that are worth billions and billions more than the movie studios. The tech giants are able to create original content that would compete with anything the movie studios have to offer (which they are already doing), so it sounds like in order to keep up, the smaller corporate companies need to either merge or be bought out by larger companies.
This is why AT&T wants Time Warner, as well as why Disney wants Fox Studios, which is so they can compete in the coming years with the tech giants who have more than enough money (lots more than Disney, Fox, Sony etc.) to create their own content.
An example given that’s pretty mind-blowing is that one tech company alone is worth more than all the studios combined:
The combined market valuations of the big legacy media companies like Comcast, Disney, Fox and Time Warner is about $500 billion. That collective number trails the individual market caps of Apple, Amazon and Facebook.
Apple’s market valuation, by itself, is around $830 billion. Amazon’s is approaching $700 billion. Facebook is around $550 billion. Netflix’s market cap, which is around $115 billion, tops both Fox and Time Warner.
It’s actually kind of a scary thought as if the above plays out, there will only be a few corporations controlling everything.
