Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor to News Corporation, while the second News Corporation was formed the same day as a spin-off. 21st Century Fox was the legal successor to News Corporation dealing primarily in the film and television industries. It was the United States' fourth-largest media conglomerate by revenue, up until its acquisition by the Walt Disney Company in 2019. The second News Corporation, which is doing business as News Corp, was spun off from the first News Corporation and holds Rupert Murdoch's print interests and other media assets in Australia (both owned by him and his family via a family trust with 39% interest in each). Murdoch was co-executive chairman, while his sons Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch were co-executive chairman and CEO, respectively.
21CF's assets included the Fox Entertainment Group—owners of the 20th Century Fox film studio (the company's partial namesake), the Fox television network, and a 73% stake in National Geographic Partners—the commercial media arm of the National Geographic Society, among other assets. It also had significant foreign operations, including the prominent Indian television channel operator Star India. The company ranked No. 109 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
On December 14, 2017, Disney agreed to acquire 21CF for $52.4 billion in stock. After Comcast mounted an all-cash bid of $65 billion, Disney increased its offer to $71.3 billion in cash and stock. Comcast dropped its bid on July 19, 2018, to instead acquire Sky plc, a British media group in which 21CF held a 39% stake. On July 27, 2018, Disney's offer was approved by shareholders of both companies. The sale covered the majority of 21CF's entertainment assets, including 20th Century Fox, FX Networks, and National Geographic Partners among others; while the sale also included 21CF's regional Fox Sports Networks, Disney was required to sell them within 90 days of the closure of the acquisition to comply with antitrust rulings. The remaining assets, consisting primarily of the Fox and MyNetworkTV networks, and 21CF's local station, news and national sports assets, were spun out into a new company named Fox Corporation, which began trading on March 19, 2019. Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox closed on March 20 of the same year.
Contents
History
Formation
21st Century Fox was formed by the splitting of entertainment and media properties from News Corporation. In February 2012, Natalie Ravitz accepted a position to become Rupert Murdoch's Chief of Staff at News Corporation.
News Corporation's board approved the split on May 24, 2013, while shareholders approved the split on June 11, 2013; the company completed the split on June 28 and formally started trading on NASDAQ on July 1.
Plans for the split were originally announced on June 28, 2012, while additional details and the working name of the new company were unveiled on December 3, 2012.
Murdoch stated that performing this split would "unlock the true value of both companies and their distinct assets, enabling investors to benefit from the separate strategic opportunities resulting from more focused management of each division." The move also came in the wake of a series of scandals that had damaged the reputation of the company's publishing operations in the United Kingdom. The split was structured so that the old News Corporation would change its name to 21st Century Fox and spin-off its publishing assets into a "new" News Corporation.
While the company was originally announced as the Fox Group, on April 16, 2013, Murdoch announced the new name as a way to not only leverage the already-established 20th Century Fox brand name, but to also help drive the company into the future (more specifically, the new century). Its logo was officially unveiled on May 9, 2013, featuring a modernized version of the iconic Fox searchlights designed by Pentagram.
However, the 21st Century Fox brand does not extend to the existing 20th Century Fox division (which remains under its original name).
The formation of 21st Century Fox was officially finalized on June 28, 2013. It formally began trading on NASDAQ and the Australian Securities Exchange on July 1, 2013, with its executives including Rupert Murdoch being chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, while Chase Carey took the posts of president and chief operating officer, with Co-chairman and Co-CEO positions were created in 2014 and later filled by Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch, respectively, both sons of Rupert Murdoch.
Subsequent history
On January 8, 2014, Rupert Murdoch announced plans to delist 21st Century Fox's shares from the Australian Securities Exchange, in favor of solely trading on the NASDAQ. Its listing in Australia was a holdover from its period as News Corporation, and 21st Century Fox has relatively little presence in Australia, unlike News Corp. Murdoch stated that the changes, which were expected to be complete by June 2014, would "simplify the capital and operating structure" of 21st Century Fox and provide "improved liquidity" to shareholders. Also that month, the company acquired a majority ownership in YES Network, a New York regional sports network founded by the New York Yankees.
In June 2014, 21st Century Fox made a bid to acquire Time Warner, which had similarly spun off its publishing assets, for $80 billion in a cash and stock deal. The deal, which was rejected by Time Warner's board of directors in July 2014, would have also involved the sale of CNN to ease antitrust issues. On August 5, 2014, 21st Century Fox announced it had withdrawn its bid for Time Warner. The company's stock had fallen sharply since the bid was announced, prompting directors to announce 21st Century Fox would buy back $6 billion of its shares over the following 12 months.
On July 25, 2014, 21st Century Fox announced the sale of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland to BSkyB for $9 billion, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Fox would use the money from the sale, along with $25 billion it received from Goldman Sachs, to attempt another bid for Time Warner.
In December 2014, Fox-owned television studio Shine Group merged with Apollo Global Management's Endemol and Core Media Group to form Endemol Shine Group, which was jointly owned by 21st Century Fox and Apollo.
On July 1, 2015, Lachlan Murdoch was elevated to Co-Executive Chairman alongside his father and James Murdoch replaced his father as CEO of the company. Former COO Chase Carey became Executive Vice-chairman.
On September 9, 2015, 21st Century Fox announced a for-profit joint venture with the National Geographic Society, which called National Geographic Partners, which took ownership of all of National Geographic media and consumer businesses, including National Geographic magazine, and the National Geographic-branded television channels that were already run as a joint venture with Fox. 21st Century Fox holds a 73% stake in the company.
Sale to Disney
On December 14, 2017, after rumors of such a sale that had been circulating since November 6 following a CNBC report, The Walt Disney Company began its acquisition of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion after the spin-off of certain businesses, pending regulatory approval. 21st Century Fox president Peter Rice stated that he expected the sale to be completed by mid-2019.
Under the terms of the deal, 21st Century Fox spun off an entity that was initially being referred to as "New Fox", consisting of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox News, Fox Business Network, and the national operations of Fox Sports (such as Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, and Big Ten Network, but excluding its regional sports networks), and Disney acquired the remainder of 21st Century Fox. This included key entertainment assets such as the 20th Century Fox film studio and its subsidiaries; a stake in Hulu; the U.S. pay television subsidiaries FX Networks, Fox Sports Networks and National Geographic Partners; and international operations of Fox Networks Group as well as Star India. The acquisition was primarily intended to bolster two over-the-top content endeavors—ESPN+ and Disney+. Disney will lease the 20th Century Fox backlot in Century City, Los Angeles for seven years.
The proposed transaction raised antitrust issues, due to concerns that it could have led to a tangible loss in competition in the film and sports broadcasting industries. Several legal experts and industry analysts expressed the opinion that the transaction was likely to receive regulatory approval, but would be scrutinized by regulators.
In February 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that Comcast, the owner of NBCUniversal, was considering a counter-offer. Despite initially bidding $60 billion earlier, Fox had rejected Comcast's offer due to the possibility of antitrust concerns. On May 5, 2018, it was reported that Comcast was preparing to make an unsolicited, all-cash counteroffer to acquire the 21st Century Fox's assets Disney has offered to purchase, contingent on the outcome of an antitrust lawsuit AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner. Comcast confirmed on May 23, 2018, that it was "considering, and is in advanced stages of preparing, an offer for the businesses that Fox has agreed to sell to Disney."
A shareholder vote on the sale was scheduled for special shareholder meetings by Fox and Disney on July 10, 2018, at the New York Hilton Midtown and New Amsterdam Theatre respectively, although Fox warned that it might "postpone or adjourn" the meeting if Comcast were to follow through with its intent to make a counter-offer. It was also reported that Disney was preparing an all-cash offer of its own to counter Comcast's bid.
Final holdings
21st Century Fox primarily consisted of the media and broadcasting properties that were owned by its predecessor, such as the Fox Entertainment Group and Star India. News Corporation's broadcasting properties in Australia, such as Foxtel and Fox Sports Australia, remained a part of the newly renamed News Corp Australia—which was spun off with the current incarnation of News Corp and was not a part of 21st Century Fox.
Music and radio
Fox Music
Fox News Radio
Fox News Talk
Fox Sports Radio
Studios
Fox Entertainment Group – 20th Century Fox's parent company, merged with various Disney operating units
20th Century Fox – a film production/distribution company, Disney would rebrand it as 20th Century Studios, theatrical distribution folded into Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Fox Searchlight Pictures – specialized films, Disney would rebrand it as Searchlight Pictures, albeit keeping autonomous theatrical distribution
Fox 2000 Pictures – general audience feature films, dissolved by Disney
Fox Studios Australia, Sydney, New South Wales; Disney would rebrand it as Disney Studios Australia
Fox Family - a family friendly production company, Disney would rebrand it as 20th Century Family
Fox Stage Productions – a theatrical production company, Disney would rebrand it as Buena Vista Theatrical
20th Century Fox Television – primetime television programming, Disney would rebrand it as 20th Television
20th Television – television distribution (syndication), folded into Disney–ABC Domestic Television
20th Century Fox Television Distribution – television distribution, folded into 20th Television by Disney
Lincolnwood Drive Inc.
Fox 21 Television Studios – low scripted/budgeted television production company, rebranded by Disney as Touchstone Television, later folded into 20th Television
TV
Endemol Shine Group, production and distribution company (joint venture with Apollo Global Management) 50%
These units were transferred to the Fox Corporation, not Disney.
Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), an American broadcast television network
MyNetworkTV, an American broadcast syndication service
Movies!, an American free-to-air television network (in partnership with Weigel Broadcasting with both owning 50%)
Fox Television Stations, a group of owned and operated Fox television stations
Tata Sky (30%), an Indian Direct to Home Television Service Provider. (in partnership with Tata Group (70%))
Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific (formerly Star TV), an Asian satellite TV service having 300 million viewers in 53 countries, mainly in Taiwan, China & other Asian countries
Star India, satellite TV network with landing rights in India.
Cable TV channels owned (in whole or part) and operated by 21st Century Fox include:
Fox Business Network, a business news channel.
FX Movie Channel, an all-movie channel that airs commercial-free movies from 20th Century Fox's film library
Fox News Channel, a 24-hour news and opinion channel
Fox Sports Networks, a chain of American regional cable news television networks broadcasting local sporting events linked together by national sports news programming. Local channels include "Fox Sports Southwest", "Fox Sports Detroit", etc. (some affiliates are owned by Cablevision.)
Internet
Fox Sports Digital Media
Foxsports.com – website with sports news, scores, statistics, video and fantasy sports
Fox Sports Go – online video streaming site of Fox Sports
Fox Nation – online video streaming site
Hulu (30%) – online video streaming site (now owned by Disney, but formerly in partnership with Comcast)
TrueX
Other assets
FoxNext – video game, virtual reality and theme park company