Rupert
Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox spun off various television assets —
including the Fox News Channel and Fox broadcast network — to form a new
company Tuesday known simply as Fox Corp.
The
freshly minted company unveiled its board members, including former
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). Ryan, whose two decades in Congress
ended in January, forged a working relationship with President Trump to
advance a conservative agenda, including tax cuts.
Now Ryan will help oversee the parent of Fox News — Trump’s favorite news network.
(Note FYI- The old Fox news, now Fox Corp. has been compromised by the addition of Anti-Trump liberals and the clamping down on conservatives. The addition of RINO Paul D. Ryan to the Board of Fox Corp is sad news. Ryan, as Speaker of the House, worked behind the scenes to block Trump in many areas, especially the Wall. Trump has publicly stated his disappointment with Ryan. Goodbye Fox as we knew it)
Now Ryan will help oversee the parent of Fox News — Trump’s favorite news network.
(Note FYI- The old Fox news, now Fox Corp. has been compromised by the addition of Anti-Trump liberals and the clamping down on conservatives. The addition of RINO Paul D. Ryan to the Board of Fox Corp is sad news. Ryan, as Speaker of the House, worked behind the scenes to block Trump in many areas, especially the Wall. Trump has publicly stated his disappointment with Ryan. Goodbye Fox as we knew it)
Fox’s
other board members are Murdoch; his oldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, who
is also the company’s chairman and chief executive; Anne Dias, founder
and CEO of media investment firm Aragon Global Holdings; Chase Carey, a
former Fox executive who is chairman and CEO of Formula 1 racing; Roland
A. Hernandez, a former chief of Spanish-language network Telemundo; and
Jacques Nasser, former head of Ford Motor Co. and a longtime Murdoch
associate.
The
spinoff completed early Tuesday is part of a multipronged process that
will culminate with the $71.3-billion sale of the rest of Murdoch’s
entertainment company to Walt Disney Co. The company announced that it
had finished the process of issuing shares in the new Fox Corp. to
investors of 21st Century Fox.
The new Fox is now a standalone, publicly traded company. Its shares are listed on the Nasdaq market; Tuesday marked their first day of trading. The Class A shares fell 3.3% to close at $40.34.
The new incarnation of Fox — with headquarters in New York and Los Angeles — is a slimmer version of the old Fox
The new Fox is now a standalone, publicly traded company. Its shares are listed on the Nasdaq market; Tuesday marked their first day of trading. The Class A shares fell 3.3% to close at $40.34.
The 88-year-old Murdoch and his family
decided in late 2017 to break up their entertainment empire, and Disney
was the Australian mogul’s preferred suitor. The Disney portion of the
deal is expected to be complete late Tuesday night when the Burbank
entertainment giant swallows the bulk of the Fox assets.
Its
assets include Fox News Channel; Fox Business Network; two national Fox
Sports channels, FS1 and FS2; the Fox Broadcasting network; and Fox’s
group of television stations, including KTTV Channel 11 and KCOP Channel
13 in Los Angeles.
The
reconfigured Fox Corp. will emphasize live programming, with NFL
prime-time games on Thursday nights and WWE’s “Smackdown” on Fridays.
With a growing number of viewers watching scripted dramas and comedies
on a delayed basis, Fox is seeking more commercials that reach consumers
with greater immediacy.
The
network’s entertainment chief, Charlie Collier, has said Fox will
remain in the scripted-TV business, taking ownership stakes in the new
series it buys from outside suppliers and developing its own properties.
Fox has negotiated deals with Disney to keep the network’s signature
animated shows “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” and will continue to
develop new series in the genre.
https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-fox-spinoff-20190319-story.html
The parent company of Fox News has hired a former top aide to Joe Biden, Danny O'Brien, a well known Democrat, as its chief lobbyist in Washington. The O’Brien hire and other news suggests Fox is beefing up ties to Democrats and critics of President Trump.
Fox
News is also a crucial piece of the new company, as the news channel
generates more than $1 billion in annual profit thanks to growth in
cable and satellite subscriber fees and ratings that make it the
most-watched channel behind the broadcast networks. Although Fox News
has seen advertisers resist buying commercial time on its provocative
conservative commentators’ shows, Madison Avenue still values the
network’s audience because 90% of its viewers watch live.
Fox also is holding on to the historic studio lot on Pico Boulevard in Century City, where Lachlan Murdoch, 47, is based.
The Murdoch family controls the company through its ownership of voting shares.
The spinoff comes amid high anxiety on the Fox lot in Los Angeles because of the anticipation that more than 3,000 jobs will eventually be eliminated as part of Disney’s consolidation of the remaining Fox assets, two people familiar with the matter said. Most of the affected positions are in Los Angeles.
The spinoff comes amid high anxiety on the Fox lot in Los Angeles because of the anticipation that more than 3,000 jobs will eventually be eliminated as part of Disney’s consolidation of the remaining Fox assets, two people familiar with the matter said. Most of the affected positions are in Los Angeles.
Fox
alerted the employees whom it planned to retain in December. Disney has
already identified key executives who will make the switch but must
still decide in the coming days and months who will be integrated into
the expanded company.
Disney is buying the 20th Century Fox movie and television studios
with their rich vault of titles, including “Modern Family,” “The
Simpsons,” “Avatar” and “Deadpool.” The goal is to ramp up a programming
pipeline for a new streaming service, called Disney+, that is expected
to launch this year.
Other
Fox assets going to Disney include the FX and National Geographic
channels, international television assets, including Star India, and
Fox’s 30% stake in streaming service Hulu, which will give Disney the
controlling interest in that growing business.
Disney
must sell the 22 Fox regional sports networks, including the YES
network in New York, which broadcasts Yankees baseball games, and Prime
Ticket and Fox Sports West in Los Angeles. Disney wanted to buy the
regional channels, but the U.S. Justice Department would not allow that.
In order to gain regulatory approval of the deal, Disney agreed to
divest the regional sports channels.
Disney has 90 days to sell the regional sports channels but would like to identify a buyer within a month, according to a knowledgeable person who was not authorized to comment.
Fox
Corp., whose ticker is FOXA for Class A shares and FOX for Class B
shares, was added to the Standard & Poor’s 500 index Tuesday.
The
Murdoch family will continue to control their publishing company, News
Corp., which includes the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and Times
of London. The clan, through its Murdoch Family Trust, is expected to
become a major shareholder of Disney.
The Murdochs stand to receive nearly $12 billion in cash and stock from Disney, according to Bloomberg.
The parent company of Fox News has hired a former top aide to Joe Biden, Danny O'Brien, a well known Democrat, as its chief lobbyist in Washington. The O’Brien hire and other news suggests Fox is beefing up ties to Democrats and critics of President Trump.
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