Disney Nears Deal to Buy Fox Family, But AOL, Viacom Continue Talks
From WSJ: interactive.wsj.com
An interesting tidbit:
Disney is believed to be close to a deal to acquire Fox Family, which is co-owned by News Corp. and Saban Entertainment Inc., for $3.3 billion, plus the assumption of about $2 billion in debt, according to people familiar with the matter. But late Friday afternoon, it became clear that the situation remains fluid, and both AOL and Viacom remain in the hunt. People familiar with the situation said that AOL Time Warner is being particularly aggressive and may try to surpass Disney's bid.
The parties are trying to hammer out a deal this weekend. A bidding situation for Fox Family could scare away Disney, which historically does not like to compete for acquisitions.
Bring on the bidding war! Actually, I've never quite understood show this works. Disney has about $700 million in cash now, and several billion in outstanding paper debt, and now takes another two billion in debt and pays 3.3 billion in some form or another (stock or cash). How can this be good!? Actually, of course, I hope it is not, but it seems like a big bite? I'm clearly missing something here--maybe the revenue stream from the channel? I'm sure the 700 Club pulls in the advertising dollars. :-) {the WSJ article mentions that Fox Family is currently contractually obligate to show the 700 Club}
Regards,
Steve |
