would you buy more disney today, or did you? >> we've been buying over the last couple of days, tyler, and we've added to our position this morning. we're pretty happy about that in the short run. >> so you like the scope of this, you like what it does for disney? >> absolutely. we had $125 price target on the stock 12 months out, prior to this announcement. i was on last month, we talked about, you know, how synergistic this would be for the company. we've un to $130. we think this deal in all aspects makes a lot of sense. it's the traditional playbook that bob iger started with the acquisition of pixar, that he's picking up here, albeit a much bigger bite he's taking, near $60 million with the assumption of debt. we think it will play out as well as the other acquisitions have played out for disney shareholders. >> for my money, bob iger is one of the more successful ceos in media, or maybe more broadly, in the country. did you think he would be such a fearless deal maker? >> not too bad for a boy from long island. bob iger ha

then disney comes in.red between fights with different board members, different strategies, it has had a bunch of ceos. if disney can settle on one thing to execute and the leader it believes in, that will be a positive for hulu, moving forward. this deal gives disney that would position it well competitively, versus netflix? tv studio has some of the best assets and movies in the world. they have the simpsons, the avatar movie franchise. that goes to disney, which also owns some of the most valuable tv shows. you would be hard-pressed to find a company with more of a treasure trove of intellectual property. that is what you need to make these streaming services work. we talked about disney taking movies off of netflix. that is forced netflix to try to build its own studio in house, but it takes a lot of time. disney now has the benefit of owning two different studios. emily: netflix is spending billions of dollars to make that happen. the deal puts disney into debt. but who is in a better financial positi

wa lt walt disney and 21st century fox signa walt disney and 21st century fox sign a $52 billion lockthe deal that may alter the entertainment landscape. and the lastjedi is expected to be an unstoppable force at the box office and for memorabilia merchants. hello and welcome to asia business report two of the biggest names in the movie business are emerging in order to ta ke business are emerging in order to take on netflix and other online streaming services. walt disney has agreed to purchase most of 21st century fox, owned by australian media mogul rupert murdoch. they are a doing it for 50 two billion dollars. disney willacquire a doing it for 50 two billion dollars. disney will acquire all of these brands you see on screen here. as pa rt of these brands you see on screen here. as part of the deal, the disney ceo will stay on the company until 2021. he said that the purchase was inspired over an informal chat with mr murdoch. i have a lot of respect for rupert murdoch and what he has been able to build over the years. he andi been able to build over the years. he and i were musin

at disney headquarters in burbank, california, 11:00 a.m. on wall street, and "squawk alley" is live ♪ ♪ >>> good thursday morning, welcome to "squawk alley." i'm carl quintanilla with melissa lee, john fortt at post 9 of the new york stock exchange obviously, a busy day in hollywood and media. a monster deal reverberating through hollywood and silicon valley, too. the deal david has been reporting has been announced disney is buying the majority of 21st century fox for more than $52 billion in stock david broke the news seems an eternity ago and is with us at post 9, having talked to eiger this morning >> we did. november 6th we broke the story. people still trying to get their head around it, but here we are with the deal itself a little more than a month later. some $52.4 billion worth of disney stock exchanged for these assets, in addition to $14 billion from the company closer to $55 billion overall in equity when you count the 515 million shares exchanged there will be some considerations netted out and so forth is why they get to the

to disney.e're talking about a deal with an enterprise value of $69 billion. they'll take on $14 billion worth of debt. tax liability which i finally got clarity on, $8.5 billion to fox. that is the spinco, could come down as a result of tax reform, the lower tax rate and that will have the effect of delevering what will be left to fox and the questions there, what will they pursue in terms of their strategy, as i reported earlier on "squawk box," the possibility of fox going back out there into the marketplace, perhaps even buying a studio, i know that sounds strange, and some digital assets. but they'll be inquisitive with that newco or spinco, as we call it and disney itself, of course, an enormous company now, guys, in terms of its scope and most importantly, its international assets some 40% of this company will be international if the sky deal is completed. not their purchase of the 39%, but the additional purchase of the 61 that fox has in front of it, in june. >> so many issues here and

open an account today. >>> today's top story, disney's deal with 21st century fox here's disney ceo bobry issues. >> we're hoping the government looks at this from a consumer point of view and what we are aiming to do, as i discussed, is create more high quality content on a global basis and to deliver it to consumers in more exciting ways, in ways they demand and ways that deserve so we believe from a regulatory perspective while it will go through a considerable amount of scrutiny globally that this should be viewed as a positive combination and because of that we think regulators -- we hope regulators will look at it kindly. >> i can hear the gma viewers going "where is thes re recipes christmas? but i hear he's finally coming to talk to actual people that care in the next hour. is that true, faber? >> yes, 9:00 bob iger will join us here on "squawk on the street" to join us right now he's on the call sharing their thoughts behind the deal as well with their investor base. but plenty to ask, probably won't be enough time to get those questions and answers in looking forward to hearin

international and also sky here's what disney is not buying disney does not get the fox network, foxrts or fox news channel. first to report this deal could happen more than a month ago, joining us with more details. >> thanks, michelle. yeah, back i think november 6th when first reported on the talks between disney and fox and a lot of people said what? is that possible could rupert murdoch really be thinking about taking apart the empire he spent years building we've reported on it saying, yes. gone from possible it likely to today, it happened as you said, of course, it's $52.4 billion in disney stock. fixed ratio of disney shares, adding up to a bit more. closer to $55 billion overall when you adjust for considerations and the like that will come along, along with $14 billion in assumed net debt. so it makes today very large deal pointedous assets, international assets, star and india, for example, important what are they paying about 12 times the ebitda from the company, but say, well, when you throw in the $2 billion in cost synergies we see, remember, putting studios together

. >>> and decision day for disney. the media giant expected to officially announce it's buying parts of 21st century fox. it's thursday, december 14, 2017 "worldwide exchange" begins right now. ♪ >>> good morning very warm welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm wilfred frost. let's get to the futures market. pointing to a higher open following a double dose of news out of washington. the fed raising rates and upgrading the outlook for the u.s. economy and congress reaching a major agreement on tax reform let's start with taxes tracie potts is live in washington with the details. >> the president says it will be a christmas gift, democrats say it's a bad deal for the middle class. five things you need to know and two things to watch about this tax plan first, what you need to know taxes would drop for the wealthiest americans to 37%. the corporate tax rate would drop to 21%, more than republicans wanted, but much lower than it is now at 35 some of the popular deductions would stay with limits home mortgage interes

disney stock up 3/10 of 1%. the other breaking news at the top of the hour came from the boe, nothing really happened. sterling, pretty much flat on the day. they wound up keeping asset purchase program at 435 billion pounds. their corporate bond target at 10 billion pounds. not a lot of information. so everyone zeros is on board withholding rate steady. fromohnson joining us london. help me understand what was the key in this meeting. die: the headlines probably don't tell you a lot about what is happening but i suspect behind the scenes there is a more serious debate happening about what direction policies going to go in. the bank pointing to a gradual appreciation in rates over the next three years. the market price in two hikes during that period and the bank to dissuade that idea. i talk a lot the debate behind the scenes. inflation and the u.k. running at 3.1%. hawks on the committee that argue as a result the policy should be tightened. there are dubs arguing -- there are doves arguing the opposite. in th

disney's up 3%. why?ause it includes cable entertainment networks, international tv businesses and, of course, the film and television studios, plus fox's hold on hulu. its stake in hulu, which is owned by a lot of these companies. now big blockbuster franchises like simpsons along with movies like the x-men under the same roof with disney's frozen and "star wars." 21st century fox will spin off fox news, fox business, fs1, fs2 and big ten networks, but as we've seen with at&t and time warner, no deal is final until the regulators give it a green light. and, of course, at&t and time warner, they're getting a major flashing yellow if not turning slightly red. straight ahead, charlie gasparino on whether the two companies might have to do a very delicate dance through the government's red tape to get over the finish line with this deal. it's not a done deal. by the way, if it's rejected, disney has to pay fox a break-up fee of more than $2 billion. well, if you thought congress was about to settle in for th

most significant media deals in history if the deal is approved disney would be in control of one of the country's biggest movie studios in the us and some of the most popular channels like f.x. and national geographic it would also give me a majority ownership in. hulu one of the major streaming networks and might relieve them of their problems with sports coverage by buying parts of twenty first century fox disney would get access to sky sports stars sports and other regional coverage which could offset their struggles with e.s.p.n. however the deal would take at least a year to close and would still be subject to regulatory approval. across the world people are familiar with names like snow white the simpsons mickey mouse and family guy as well as companies that own them disney is synonymous with entertainment media global empire and twenty first century fox says their own huge media company covering nudes animation and movies now the disney company is set to take over twenty first century fox in a massive sixty billion dollar deal if we take a look at the last month both disney a

time will tell. .et's get a look at the movers disney and 21st century fox, we have disney and 21st centuryox climbing on the $52 billion deal where disney is buying some of the fox assets including sky along with fx and other assets. then we have viacom and lions gate. lions gate, there could be speculation some of these smaller film deals could be in fox'sfter 21st century film studio going to disney. on the day, the company cutting 14,000 jobs, also suspending the dividend and turnaround, up 15%. they beat sales in a big way. the backlog is very impressive, then look at this, pier 1 imports down 30%, the worst day since a big earnings miss. big decline. bank it has been a central theft today, the bank of england, the swedish national bank, the ecb, and i will throw in turkey as well, down for a third day. let's talk about sterling. this is the intraday chart, midday was the central decision. it is just a bit lower, down 1% today -- 0.1% today. future rate increases will be gradual, that is why you see sterling, a bit, though pricing still signaling the next rate hike in november next yea

disney and 21st century century fox making it official. disney will pay 52.4 million in assets.role through 2021. this gives us the ability to marry the great content of fox with the great content of disney. a much larger international footprint. we know how important it is in today's world. more on that consolidation in the media sector. house and senate lawmakers reaching and agreement in principle. it will be an economic miracle. they should expect more money in the paychecks as soon as february. this is exactly why we are doing it. the president all along throughout the year and has pushed to make sure we get it done this year the feeling of benefit will happen rather quickly. he will stay in washington for the tax vote. u.s. markets closed pointed to another record high. futures building on yesterday's all-time high. in europe investors are waiting on the european central bank. along with the news conference. we will get it to you as soon as it hit the tape. in asia overnight the fractional move. they are ramping up. more parents are tracking the teens phone activity. a 2-y

and it looks like disney ceo bob

and that's the key for disney. changed broadcasting forever, allowing you at home to watch a seemingly infinite number of shows how you want, where you want and when you want. streaming services such as hulu, in which disney will now have a controlling stake, cut out the middleman of domestic television stations, broadcasting directly into millions of homes. the fox international footprint has some extremely high—end technology to deliver all this content to consumers in more modern ways. sky in europe is a good example of that, star india another one. and so, to the consumer, not only will they be getting more great content, high—quality content, but they'll be getting it in ways that they demand. sky news and sky sports look set to continue, while fox says its own bid for full control of sky, currently stuck with regulators, remains in place. even with this acquisition, disney's playing catch—up with tech giants like facebook, amazon and apple, who, if they aren't there already, are coming to a small screen near

disney owns yes p.n. it also owns a b c but twenty first century fox owns a number of regional and national networks in addition to a european channel so would be interesting to see how sports looks under this deal if fox is going to keep some of its more national sports channels in order to spin off its regional sports networks in order to kind of maybe lay low in that area but i still think that the department of justice is going to be very interested to see how film looks under this deal you essentially have lucas films marvel studios fox searchlight pixar they would all be under the same umbrella of this you know this new disney twenty first century merger and i can't believe that that's not going to get some intense scrutiny so it's only questions are fascinating so the d.o.j. they could look at this deal i think they've done in the past but you're the expert and said look you know we're not ok with it for these certain reasons and then you know does the for example could sell off that thing and. red

ipiously, fox has a lot of that disney can develop and ip that disney can develop and monetize a lotr than most. emily: cory, what are the risks of this deal? cory: there are a lot. you really have to look at the different parts of the business. obviously, the risk always in hollywood is the ability to deliver hits. it is a hit driven business. it is true fox and a lot of same assets disney to create content, even marvel superhero content, but has not done a good job. that core performance could continue to follow fox into the arms of disney and is truly the greatest risk. i think another existential risk of this deal -- no company should know better about the problems of cable television right now. the move from fat bundles to skinny bundles and unbundled content, going over the top, pulls away from espn, disney's cash cow. now you have been paying a lot of money to acquire fx, part of national geographic, other cable assets, even as we see people wanting skinnier bundles or no bundles at all. doubling down on something that is not working is often a badase wanting and seems to be t

but the big corporates story is disney. disney have really looked at bulking up.r wars movie, sat next to prince william and prince harry and he must have thought, i bought lucas films a few yea rs thought, i bought lucas films a few years ago for $4 billion, look at the franchise i have got now. he has 110w the franchise i have got now. he has now made in much bigger bet with fox movies and disney has decided clearly that hollywood content dominance is the most important part of their business. but he has a huge fight on his hands with the big new social media providers, facebook and netflix with direct streaming, amazon itself. and netflix and amazon itself. and netflix and amazon are not in profit mode at the moment, disney shareholders want profit. even though disney has made this huge deal, he has got some really serious competitors. let's talk about what happened in the states this week. a major event. the fifth interest rate hike that we have seen since the financial crisis. probably the last ofjeannot yell and's tenure, what are the ramifications? the big

on screen entertainment and by the sounds of things this will be no mickey mouse outfit the walt disney company is buying up the entertainment business of rupert murdoch's twenty first century fox in a landmark fifty two point four billion dollars deal if it's approved it'll be a union of hollywood heavyweights but this is also about survival of the fittest disney and fox both need to strengthen their offerings because as you all know we don't just watch the t.v. or go to the movies anymore that why the story to come after this from john hendren . in a move that would reshape the entertainment industry large parts of what belong to twenty first century fox would become the property of disney we're getting quite quality content we're getting global reach we're getting access to new technologies and we're also getting great talent there while there is risk associated with this whether you look at the price or whether you look at the regulatory side or whether you look at the complexity of integrating companies this size that risk was well worth taking on the marriage of fox and the mouse

disney wants it to take on netflix.ps disney's decision is easier to understand than rupert murdoch's. andrew neil is a top bbc news presenter. andrew's also edited mr murdoch's sunday times and he helped him to set up sky television. here's his reaction. the deal is remarkable because it represents the end of rupert murdoch's quest to build a murdoch dynasty. he has been trying to do that for a0 years. i used to sit with him in restaurants in london in the mid—i9 80s and he talked about a murdoch dynasty, putting his children into key positions. letting them fight for the top position and whoever wins would take over and the murdoch men would go on for ever. here, he is unbundling the empire and the dynastic ambitions have gone. here is a perspective from the us. i don't think you will see any media change, but what's clear is consumers are going to have expanded options. having two of the premier collections of assets that will be available to them. i think this is all about adapting to help consumers are accessing co

disney would have to chart its own course with hulu.marily, the focus here is to continue to build a directs to consumer product that could compete and reshape the future of tv. emily: what do you think the international implications would be here, because it could significantly impact the international footprint given the sky assets? cory: the india assets might be the crown jewel of all of this. it is the one thing -- everywhere else, studios, cable networks -- not even doubling down, just adding more of what they got. who knows if they keep the actual fox physical studios that they have, some pretty valuable real estate in central city in los angeles. it is interesting looking at what they are looking at in terms of india and their ability to broadcast in europe, with the partial ownership of sky that could come with this deal. and their ability to get that all done. that is part of the story they want to tell analysts. stan knows so well, analyst day for disney is thursday. disney would love to have this announcement the moment the

disney is already withholding. they are pulling the disney stuff away from netflix.rminate other deals. they have announced that and now, they will surely -- >> we have this weird situation yesterday where we had experts come on and say now the government doesn't like vertical deals but horizontal deals are okay, which is turning antitrust on its head, but they're saying this deal is going to be all right because it's horizontal, not vertical >> that's totally turning on its head it is a vertical deal as well. that's why the idea that this thing would just breeze through is pretty startling. and again, the horizontal thing, i think under traditional measures, it would probably barely pass muster but there's a price here, and if you care about diversity in media and entertainment, this is a real problem look at the golden globes. fox just blew that one out of the park they got a host of golden globes awards disney got hardly any. for a lot of these non-super hero adult independent interesting movies and word is that disney is going to try to clamp all that and shut th

>> doing well, so is disney overall. huge weekend for them with the last jedi, second biggest opening to the one before the last jedi, and they are wanting to do this big acquisition is this the galactic empire or the first order, what have you are they potentially too powerful could they push tech into a corner >> you know, i doubt it. i think what's going to happen is there's going to be several, instead of six or seven big studios it's going to be an amalgam going forward. so what needs to happen for a company like disney is they've got to sort of strengthen up, because they are fighting some really enormous companies like amazon and google and others, who, obviously, have been dominating the distribution part of the network and it should be an interesting fight over the years, but they certainly need as much content as possible to do so i don't know if they are too big or not that will be up to the government to decide >> kara, we're now focusing specifically on one division of disney,which is espn with this news out

if you are the wall disney company, you -- walt disney company comey you can't afford to wait.n't that take out potential bidders? paul: potentially. they seem to be as viable. comcast announced they were backing out. this seems to be a deal that is at disney's to be the murdoch family since they control the stock of 21st century fox. they have made the decision to sell. they made the decision they prefer to sell to disney. vonnie: are they holding onto the news part of the business? paul: yes. say theyhe murdoch's will keep the fox business network. the fox sports network. i think the real issue for them is that some of the key entertainment properties that are willing to sell but some of the broadcast and news networks they want to keep. the new remain caddo, what will be left is that big enough to compete? arguably, the answer is no. what do you do there? the speculation is they will recombine the remaining assets with the old news corp. print , wall street journal and the u.k. and australia. put those two companies back together, give it more heft in the marketplace. shery:

where does that put disney in the stacking? is interesting, because maybe five or six years ago, a deal like this be really huge for people selling their ideas in hollywood. now, you have taken away a buyer, because fox and disney are under one-run, but you also -- under one roof, but you also have new buyers. silicon valley companies, apple, facebook, amazon, netflix are all huge buyers of content right now. in some ways, it does take away a buyer of film and tv ideas, but you have something more -- you have so many more buyers of content in hollywood than before. >> productivity in the u.s. has been depressed for a decade, but finally showed signs of life this year. >> we talked to our editor about what this may mean for capital spending but also paychecks. >> it's going on about 1.5% growth, but this is after years of barely anything. it was 2.7% per year, up to 2000 and the eve of the great recession. the highlight this year is we are seeing services start to pick up. services are 64% of the economy. a big, important thing.

how will that affect disney and fox? >> i do not think the boj has a the doj has a case against at&t. that has not happened with comcast. that they have agreed to, the constraints go away next year for comcast. but i do not think you will see a big problem with price raising . disney and fox really does not have any regulatory barrier. on that score, we are all watching the net neutrality vote right now. my bet is that in three or four years, there is going to be no fcc. it will be an ftc trade problem., constraint the sec does not have the technology to know how to regulate the internet. not have the technology to regulate the internet. it was put in place by franklin roosevelt and has no place in the 21st century. there is no one in the sec that understands what is going on in that understands what is going on in the 21st century -- in the internet. the federal trade commission regulates information services like the internet. what they're then not be a mandate to show news? would congress demand that? >> that will be

disney got a pop today. disney sees the writing on the wall, which is the future.y have to compete with the netflixes of the world, the streaming, the over-the-top content, online. liz: great point. >> yeah, buying the film, the tv and film studios of fox, this is a huge win for disney. disney is going to be a media giant. liz: yeah, too, melissa's point, people don't watch cable, they turn on netflix, what do you think of apple buying netflix, netflix is 20 billion the net worth. that's off the balance sheet total. >> if disney is going to buy netflix, they should have bought netflix and not fox assets. if disney was aggressive. $100 billion in content only with no strings attached. this is going to be trouble for them, i don't see this working. i don't know if the deal will go through and no one will for 12-18 months and after that it's going to take 6-12 months to integrate with layoffs. nowhere near as positive. liz: michael, you are a negative and melissa a positive. >> check the positive. liz: we're going to have more after the break. stay right there. ... >>

contract, if disney is successful in buying those fox assets. that does appear to be the most likely outcome as of now, as i reported yesterday, disney actually succeeding in buying those fox assets for a deal that would top some $60 plus billion worth of disney stock and the assumption of some fox debt associated with various assets taken on and you can imagine, given that, why fox shareholders, who would conceivably own as much as 30% of a combined company here, would be concerned, whether there would be continuity of management at disney as it currently stands, if the deal was announced next week, it would take a year or so to close it given the regulatory review, then mr. iger would have only six months to oversee the integration of what by far is the largest deal that disney has ever done. yes, he has done significant deals to acquire pixar and marvel and lucas, but all of those were relatively contained, nothing like this deal which would span the globe, involving of course fox's assets in india, in latin america, in europe, as well as tho

. >> you just can't quit disney.hink this is the third time you were supposed to go? >> i lost -- i think -- i think i lost track. >> well, i have to ask -- >> i like "good morning america" so much that i want to stay involved with all of you. >> we appreciate that. i have to ask, there's been a lot of speculation about a future in politics for you, even a run for president in 2020 so that's off the table? >> well, i haven't made any decisions about what my future was going to be but as i said i enjoy this job immensely and looking forward to doing for a couple more response. >> that was a political response. that was not a confirmation or denial. >> i'm sticking around to the end of 2021 so you do the math. >> let me ask you about the murdochs. a big sale for them, as well. why do you think they wanted to make the deal with disney? >> well, i have a lot of respect for rupert murdoch and what he's been able to build, that company over the years, and he and i were musing about the need to reach consumers in the way i

in the very first star wars film with the hulu service it will let disney take on netflix apple amazon google and facebook in the rapidly expanding realm of online video the massive deal is not a foregone conclusion the u.s. justice department recently said eighteen t.'s bid to acquire time warner is unlikely to be approved without major changes that signals that plan pacts like this could also have to pass intense antitrust scrutiny before they become reality . joining us from london now mark mulligan he's a media and technology analyst and the founder of media research thank you so much for your time disney and twenty first century fox there's almost not enough suppose halves to say how big this deal and this company will be or the interesting thing is it's all about your perspective so in the media world yes absolutely huge but in the tech world you know the combined entity is still far off the likes of facebook and google and amazon and i think that's actually the point you know that it does mean folks are realizing that with the growth that you're seeing within the tech majors ver

disney want this particular deal?ch makes big movie franchises. it will get all that if the deal goes through and it means disney has a much more broad, bigger global offering it can sell to people around the world wherever they are to watch disney entertainment on a streaming service which disney is about to launch. if all those assets are so appealing why does rupert murdoch want to sell? he said on a call with investors a while ago that it wasn't to retreat, it was a pair that a pivotal moment and that is this, the world of entertaining is changing faster than rupert and his company were growing. netflix and companies like them have changed the way people watch and consume tv entertainment. people don't want to sit down in front of the tv at a certain time to watch tv when they are told to, they would rather be in control of watching shows when they wa nt control of watching shows when they want which means using the internet, subscribing to streaming services and you are only going to subscribe if it has everythin

paul: why is disney doing this?abila: disney is doing this for the same reason as why rupert murdoch is selling this. going against netflix, amazon, the disruptive forces we talked about. what disney is looking to do is become something like the walmart of hollywood. they will have a lot of assets, they are bulking up and scale, hoping that will help them fight these upstarts. betty: no question this is shaking up hollywood, the media world. fromwill be the reaction some of the companies like netflix and amazon and others that in a way forced to the steel? nabila: they did force this deal. they are spending a lot of money on their own content, their own studios. what will be interesting is the fight over hulu. this gives disney a controlling stake in hulu. comcast still has a stake in hulu. they wanted this asset, they were in the bidding, but it did not work out. what happens with hulu will be interesting to watch. betty: it will be. murdoch wants to write his own history. what about the future for james murdoch? c

and that's the key for disney.r, allowing you at home to watch a seemingly infinite number of shows how, where, and when you want. streaming services such as hulu cut out the middleman of television stations, broadcasting directly into millions of homes. as the fox international footprint has some extremely high—end technology to deliver this content to consumers in more modern ways, sky in europe is a good example of that, and so to the consumer not only will they be getting more high—quality content but they will be getting it in ways they demand. sky news and sky sports look set to continue, while fox says its own bid remains in place. even with this acquisition, disney is playing catch up with tech giants like facebook, who if they aren't there already are coming to a small screen near you. we can now speak to the global business executive ryan patel — he joins me via webcam from los angeles. to see why now, why has rupert murdoch decided to unbundle his empire? it is because they wanted to be leaner and smalle

but first the walt disney company is in talks to buy parts of twenty first century fox however fox is also in talks with comcast twenty first century fox is run by the murdoch family as most of us know if the deal goes through with disney it could possibly split up the family but reel in billions of dollars and if the deal with comcast goes through the department of trust the tarp department of justice their entire trust division could stop it here's our t. correspondent ashley banks with more actually if the deal is a reach it will be the latest in major mergers and could be worth more than sixty billion dollars it would reshape the media landscape giants like it disney and comcast are trying to compete against new players light not flex and fox is under pressure to shrink and focus on specific businesses under this deal does the would buy big parts of fox is in pyar including its movie and television studios international assets like the star cable and media company n n g m a stake in the british broadcaster sky and a big stake in the hulu streaming service as a result of the deal b

tim, what do you think, you're in disney. >> the halo effect for disney is important too. of the assets they're goi getting, the fox studio. 8 1/2 times for that, you have to dispute aimpute all of that . this kind of put a floor under the entire sector. disney is paying for this deal with at least a fair amount of equity as currency in the deal and by the way, this deal just got 15% cheaper to them. for disney shareholders this is an even better deal than a month ago. >> discovery communications i think is interesting not that i know these people but chip gaines and joanna gaines >> love them >> they're doing the show, they're renegotiating apparently now with discovery, that post the scripts contract they had companies. a disaster, by the way if you're looking for undervalued assets that might have some upside, i think that's it tim and i have talked about viacom for a while which quietly is close to 30 now >> when the story first broke about disney, we mentioned viacom i think cbs is worth a hat tip there. if you look at disney, it's been in a range, let's call it low 9

you might render the ceo of disney decided to pull disney's content of disney decided to pull disney'sto pull disney's content of netflix in advance of launching their own streaming service. with this deal potentially syd ney service. with this deal potentially sydney would also gain control in —— the controlling interest in another streaming service, hulu, in addition to the one it is launching for itself. it would be taking on the amazon and netflix types on two fronts. i guess the other thing is what it might mean for fox because they would be selling off a lot of deadbeat assets. potentially fox studios are some of the crown jewels. maybe rupert murdoch is going back to his first love, the news business. looking forward to a potential megadeal in the industry. the south korean president, moon jae—in is in china improving relations. china was upset so it banned travel agencies from selling packaged tour is and that really hurt south korean businesses because visitors from china made up nearly half of tourists last year. china partly lifted the ban last month but the damage has been

let's start with disney.nly, you would think the direct to consumer offering, i get that sports, entertainment, that's bolstered significantly. >> we did a lot of work about netflix's library. it's hard to get under the hood of netflix, but the work we did said that fox had given a lot of their best content to netflix and had driven a lot of value to netflix. disney's library value is nowhere near as good as fox is for disney to understand they need to get bigger in scripted television for ott, it makes tons of sense. the data supports fox's content, family guy, all the fx stuff, that works really well in ott. so that's a really good building block. that makes a ton of sense. on the film side, without a doubt, avatar, the avengers, that fits great. then, owning india, which is a market growing really quickly, they get in there, and lastly is hulu that's the underappreciated star here they need to communicate tomorrow about what does hulu give you, how fast can they grow it, is it a global asset those are the

rules, disney would need to change that deal.t make a price any lower or anything like that and this is a difficult trial with regulators there, in terms of the amount of media assets that they own in the u.k. and it makes it difficult for them to buy sky. the decision has been delayed until january and it could still be clear, but disney does not have the same conflicts that fox does and it makes it easier for them. emily: bob, what do you make of this when comcast says that they are not that far into it? bob: i agree. it is what is happening with at&t and time warner. on the doj perspective, you clearly god this concern that as isp's are working with companies there will be friction there. they are mostly focused on the moving tv piece, not fox news or fox sports, which remains separate. it makes logical sense. emily: we will continue to follow this and thank you for being here. bob, you are sticking with me. all right. another top story is the debut of bitcoin futures on the global markets exchange. a huge move to legitimize d

and open internet also on the program beefing up against the competition online entertainment giant disney takes over large parts of twenty first century fox the price tag a cold fifty two billion dollars and on hold the. key interest rates unchanged while the u.s. economy looks good the fed raises interest rates for the first time this year. this is the business i'm christopher kober welcome the u.s. federal communications commission f.c.c. has decided to do away with net neutrality rules the landmark decision was put in place and twenty fifteen under former president barack obama it barred providers from blocking or slowing access to content or charging consumers more that's about to change the f.c.c. is moving as part of u.s. president donald trump's push to scale back regulation in many economic sectors. next neutrality rules banned internet providers from giving preferential treatment to certain websites after the f.c.c. vote that seems to be a thing of the past. the ending of net neutrality has been met with fury by millions of internet uses both online through social media. and offl

. >>> today it became official, disney the parent company of abc 7 buying many assets of 21st century fox. that acquisition is valued at more than $52 billion. abc news reporter ariel resha has the details. >> reporter: it's the blockbuster deal creating an entertainment powerhouse. the wall street disney company, which owns abc news, announcing thursday it is acquiring most of 21st century fox for $52.4 billion in stock. the force behind "frozen." ♪ let it go, let it go "the pirates of the caribbean." and "star wars." now bringing in parts of fox's edgier tv empire including fx, natgeo and popular comic book franchises. >> those are things that now all come under one umbrella so the customer can have more access to all of that premium content. >> reporter: left off the table, fox news channel, foxsports 1, and fox broadcast network, which will be offered to fox sha shareholders in a new company. disney chairman bob iger on "gma" this morning promising a big benefit to confirmers. >> not only will they be getting more great content, high-quality content, but they'll be getting it in w

twenty first century foreign film studio is one of the assets disney will buy from fox if the deal is cleared by regulators. with its and for some of fifty two billion dollars in stock disney will take over fawkes studios tv stations of iraq's. i fake cable networks of thirty nine percent stake in sky the pan european broadcaster and the star tv network in india. with this deal disney will also double its stake in hulu becoming the majority owner of the streaming service. well i think it's pretty clear today the consumers want access to entertainment one that is high quality to to they want access pretty much anywhere anytime any how. at its core requires new technology to debate to be able to deliver it in that fashion. who certainly provides that's in the controlling stake in hulu? that. we will acquire with this acquisition is one way to provide that. the move is central to disney's plans to launch its own director consumer streaming services confronted phonology companies such as netflix and amazon dot com incorporated which taken many viewers away from traditional tv networks. th

disney will own that franchise.an opportunity to talk to rich gelfond, the ceo of imax yesterday who said avatar is the biggest thing for a company like imax with the big screen experience. looking forward what could topple "star wars"? >> curious to see how the franchise is done. i think people have forgotten about the original avatar. for me it's one of the movies i don't watch over and over, it's a very different feeling than the "star wars" movies. so i'm not so gung ho on the whole avatar thing. liz: i am. >> you are? liz: i'm all pandora, all the time. [ laughter ] >> in the end, though, i have to ask we're getting news about the fox-disney linkup here. >> yes. liz: there might be up to 5,000 layoffs, that is normal when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. redundancey, people lose their jobs. does that affect things in any way, shape, or form? >> it could affect the writer's process, the writers guild is not happy with the process. it's not going to be approved until 2019. there's time to figure out how the