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Tag: 21st Century Fox

  • Why Disney-Star India aligned with Reliance?

    Why Disney-Star India aligned with Reliance?

    MUMBAI: What was the rationale behind Disney Star India’s decision to align with the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries? Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in the US on 5 March (during a question and answer session,) Disney CEO Bob Iger, gave some insights.

    First he said the mouse house wanted to stay in India. “We made a big investment in India when we purchased the assets of 21st Century Fox. We’re one of the biggest media companies in India. But even though it’s the most populous country in the world, and we felt we want to be there because of that, we also know that there are challenges in that market.”

    He added that the company got a chance to align with Reliance, and he grabbed it fast. “(It) …is obviously the company that has done very well there and one that we respect. And in doing so, end up owning part of a bigger media company. And we believe that, that not only should benefit us in terms of the bottom-line, but derisk us as well there.”

    “So, it’s kind of the best of both worlds. We stay in the market at a significant level. We have a very good partner in Reliance, and we get to have a chance of growing a business and lowering the risk of doing so,” he concluded.

    Now it’s up to time and the new structure to prove whether these reasons were well-founded. 

  • Bob Chapek exits Disney; Bob Iger returns as CEO for two more years

    Bob Chapek exits Disney; Bob Iger returns as CEO for two more years

    Mumbai: US and global media conglomerate Disney has announced that Robert A. Iger is returning to lead Disney as CEO, effective immediately. Iger, who spent more than four decades at the company, including 15 years from 2005-2020 as its CEO, has agreed to serve as Disney’s CEO for two years, with a mandate from the board to set the strategic direction for renewed growth and to work closely with the board in developing a successor to lead the company at the completion of his term. Iger succeeds Bob Chapek, who has stepped down from his position. Chapek spent less than three years as CEO. Chapek’s contract had been extended in June 2022 for three years. The earlier contract had been scheduled to expire in February 2023.

    “We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. The board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the company through this pivotal period,” said The Walt Disney Co. chairman of the board Susan E. Arnold. “Iger has the deep respect of Disney’s senior leadership team, most of whom he worked closely with until his departure as executive chairman 11 months ago, and he is greatly admired by Disney employees worldwide—all of which will allow for a seamless transition of leadership.”

    The position of chairman of the board remains unchanged, with Arnold serving in that capacity.

    “I am extremely optimistic for the future of this great company and thrilled to be asked by the board to return as its CEO. Disney and its incomparable brands and franchises hold a special place in the hearts of so many people around the globe—most especially in the hearts of our employees, whose dedication to this company and its mission is an inspiration. I am deeply honoured to be asked to lead this extraordinary team once more, with a clear mission focused on creative excellence to inspire generations through unparalleled, bold storytelling,” Iger said.

    During his 15-year stint with Disney, Iger helped build Disney into one of the world’s most successful and admired media and entertainment companies with a strategic vision focused on creative excellence, technological innovation, and international growth. He expanded on Disney’s legacy of storytelling with the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox and increased the company’s market capitalization fivefold during his time as CEO. Iger continued to direct Disney’s creative endeavours until his departure as executive chairman last December, and the company’s pipeline of content is a testament to his leadership and vision.

  • Rupert Murdoch to merge Fox Corp and News Corp?

    Rupert Murdoch to merge Fox Corp and News Corp?

    Mumbai : Media baron, Rupert Murdoch has begun the process of reuniting his media empire, according to News Corp and Fox Corp, which announced on Friday that they would consider combining at his request, nearly a decade after the companies split.

    Both have formed special committees to review potential merger proposals, they said.

    If the merger goes through, Murdoch will have more control over his media assets and the companies will be able to cut costs. Media companies are competing with deep-pocketed social media and content websites for users’ attention while experiencing decades-low growth in advertising sales.

    After years of global expansion, Murdoch split his empire in 2013, putting the print business under the newly formed public entity News Corp and the TV and entertainment business under 21st Century Fox.

    Murdoch stated at the time that his vast media holdings had become “increasingly complex,” and that a new structure would make operations easier. The separation also protected Fox’s entertainment assets from any potential financial consequences of a phone hacking scandal involving the media conglomerate’s now-defunct News of the World publication in the United Kingdom.

    According to a person familiar with the decision-making process at the time, the thinking was that separating the companies would ultimately generate value for shareholders. In 2019, Fox sold the majority of its film and television assets to Walt Disney Co for $71 billion.

    According to Wall Street analysts, the sale focused Fox on live events such as news and sports rather than “disruptive” scripted entertainment content on streaming platforms. The major streaming services, on the other hand, have begun to breach the protective moat. Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc, two tech behemoths with deep pockets, have begun bidding for sports rights, securing the rights to stream major league baseball, soccer, and football games.

    Fox recently renewed a long-term contract with the NFL to continue broadcasting Sunday afternoon games, but gave up Thursday Night Football to Amazon. According to a person familiar with the proposal, reuniting Fox and News Corp would give the combined companies greater scale to compete and complement their assets. The combined companies would generate approximately $24 billion in revenue.

    Murdoch, currently owns nearly all of the stock in both companies. Lachlan Murdoch is the chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation. Companies that use such arrangements typically require subsequent mergers to be approved by a majority of shareholders who are not related to the controlling shareholder, though it is unclear whether this will be the case in this case.

    According to Refinitiv, as of Friday’s market close, News Corp. had a market cap of $9.31 billion and Fox Corp. had a market cap of $16.84 billion. In after-hours trading, News Corp shares rose 5 per cent , while Fox rose about 1 per cent.

  • Star India losses partially offset Disney’s international revenue

    Star India losses partially offset Disney’s international revenue

    MUMBAI: The giant media conglomerate Walt Disney Company could not reach Wall Street’s expectations for the quarter ended 29 June 2019. The company posted weaker than expected earnings per share and revenue in its Q3 results. Star India which now comes under Disney after the merger with 21st Century Fox affected the company’s revenue.

    Earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter decreased 28 per cent to $1.35 from $1.87 in the prior-year quarter while the expectation was $1.74 by the analysts. Total revenue stood at $20.2 billion against the consensus estimate for $21.4 billion.

    "Our third-quarter results reflect our efforts to effectively integrate the 21st Century Fox assets to enhance and advance our strategic transformation,” Disney Chairman Bob Iger said. “We remain confident in our ability to successful execute our strategy,” he added.

    Cable Networks revenues for the quarter increased 24 per cent to $4.5 billion and operating income increased 15 per cent to $1.6 billion. The company said higher operating income was due to the consolidation of 21CF businesses (primarily the FX and National Geographic networks) and an increase at ESPN.

    "Results for the quarter also reflected a benefit from the inclusion of the 21CF businesses due to income at the Fox and National Geographic international channels, partially offset by a loss at Star India,” the company said in a release.

    Direct-to-consumer and international revenues for the quarter increased from $827 million to $3,858 million and segment operating loss increased from $168 million to $553 million. The increase in operating loss was due to the consolidation of Hulu, the ramp-up of investment in ESPN+, which was launched in April 2018 and costs associated with the upcoming launch of Disney+.

    Studio Entertainment revenues for the quarter saw a 33 per cent increase to $3.8 billion and segment operating income increased 13 per cent o $792 million. Parks, Experiences and Products revenues for the quarter increased 7 per cent to $6.6 billion and segment operating income increased 4 per cent to $1.7 billion.

    "The incredible popularity of Disney’s brands and franchises positions us well as we launch Disney+, and the addition of original and library content from Fox will only further strengthen our direct-to-consumer offerings,”  Iger said in the earnings release despite the bumpy quarter.

  • Sanjay Gupta is India country manager in The Walt Disney APAC rejig

    Sanjay Gupta is India country manager in The Walt Disney APAC rejig

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Co announced a major reshuffle of its leadership team for the APAC (Asia Pacific) and Middle East region on Monday. Sanjay Gupta will be country manager of India and will also have direct responsibility for the studio business in the country while K Madhavan will lead Star India’s regional language media networks.

    Star India chairman and CEO and 21st Century Fox Asia president Uday Shankar said, “It is a momentous opportunity to be able to chart the course of The Walt Disney Co. in Asia Pacific and Middle East. While our region is experiencing tremendous change, the common thread that binds it together is the exciting opportunity it presents to build on the great businesses that we have today and create transformational businesses of tomorrow. My endeavour is to build an organisation that enables us to take full advantage of this unique opportunity and capitalise on the potential of the great leadership talent that we have in the region.”

    Sanjay Jain and Amita Maheshwari will lead finance and human resource respectively. Anju Jain Kumar will be the chief regional counsel for North Asia and ANZ while Deepak Jacob will be the chief regional counsel for India, South East Asia and Middle East. Amit Malhotra will lead emerging markets and content sales for APAC (except North Asia).

    “We recognise the need for a sharp focus on building deeply local businesses. To achieve this, we are making some changes to the current market structure. This will allow us to serve the strategic agenda in each market and enable our exceptional leaders to build even greater and more successful businesses. Above all, this will facilitate our transformation into a direct-to-consumer company that rests on deep local foundations,” Shankar added.  

    North Asia will be led by Luke Kang who will look after business including direct country management of Mainland China and Japan. Chafic Najia will be country manager of Middle East media cluster while Kylie Watson-Wheeler will continue to serve as country manager of Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) business with direct responsibility for media networks and direct-to-consumer. Kurt Rieder will lead the studio business for APAC (except India).

  • Fox Network CFO Ravi Ahuja to join Walt Disney Television

    Fox Network CFO Ravi Ahuja to join Walt Disney Television

    MUMBAI: Fox Networks Group CFO Ravi Ahuja has planned to make a move from the company and is all set to join Walt Disney Television as the president of business operations and CFO. He will join the organisation once the acquisition of 21st Century Fox closes.

    According to the reports, in his new position at Disney, he will oversee finance, strategic planning, business development, affiliate sales and distribution, technology, music affairs, consumer insights and labor relations for the segment, and work with the business units to grow revenue and operating income. He will also liaise with the company’s direct-to-consumer and international divisions on ad sales and content distribution, according to Disney.

    Ahuja is currently the CFO for Fox Networks Group, managing the company’s finance and accounting and overseeing business development for FNG’s business units, including Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Cable Networks, Fox Sports Media Group and National Geographic Partners, and FNG Wurope and Africa and Latin America.

    He joined Fox in 2007. Before becoming CFO at Fox Networks Group, Ahuja served as executive VP of business operations and development there. Prior to that, he spent eight years at Virgin Entertainment Group, rising to the role of CFO.

  • 21st Century Fox reports strong $8.5 bn Q2 revenue

    21st Century Fox reports strong $8.5 bn Q2 revenue

    MUMBAI: 21st Century Fox (Fox) reported strong second-quarter earnings even at a time when Disney is all set to take over a major part of the Murdoch empire. The company reported total quarterly revenues of $8.5 billion matching analysts’ estimates. Fox also added that it anticipates the transactions regarding the acquisition by Disney closing in the first half of calendar 2019.

    “This increase principally reflects higher affiliate revenues reported at the cable network programming and television segments and higher advertising revenue reported in the television segment partially offset by lower home entertainment revenue reported at the filmed entertainment segment. The impact of foreign exchange rates adversely impacted revenue growth by approximately $195 million, or 2 per cent in total,” the company commented in the earnings release.

    Fox reported 4 per cent increase in its cable network programming revenue reaching to $4.562 billion. While the domestic cable revenue increased by 7 per cent, international cable revenue declined 5 per cent. 11 per cent local currency growth at FNG International and Star adversely impacted international affiliate revenue. While the company saw cable network programming expense increase 7 per cent to $1.45 billion from its local sports acquisitions, it was partially offset by lower cricket rights costs by Star.

    “Reported international advertising revenue decreased 9 per cent as the adverse impact from the strengthened US dollar and lower local currency advertising revenue at FNG International more than offset local currency advertising growth at Star,” the release also added.

    The film division, powered by Bohemian Rhapsody theatrical revenue and pay-TV fees for The Greatest Showman, reported a 47 per cent increase in operating income. Television revenues surged nearly 19 per cent to $2.148 billion but reported $22 million loss due to higher sports programming costs.

    “Our company delivered another strong quarter of financial results, underpinned by distribution and advertising revenue increases at our domestic cable networks and broadcast businesses and the substantial gain on our sale of Sky. These results reflect our continued commitment to excellence in all aspects of our business. There has also been significant progress regarding the transaction with Disney and the spin-off of Fox Corporation including the effectiveness of the Form 10,” Fox executive chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch commented.

    The $71.3 billion mega-deal with Disney still needs final regulatory approval as regulators in America continue to conduct their review. After the finalisation, Fox will be left with Fox broadcasting, Fox News, and a few other channels.

    According to a report by MediaPost, the new Fox entity will be called Fox Entertainment and it will have a startup mentality. It will go beyond just TV or sports and news into newer avenues such as a content development accelerator.

  • Twitter appoints Rahul Pushkarna as head of content partnership, APAC

    Twitter appoints Rahul Pushkarna as head of content partnership, APAC

    MUMBAI: Rahul Pushkarna has been appointed as head of content partnership, APAC at Twitter. He confirmed his appointment through Twitter.

    Before this, Pushkarna worked with Sony Pictures Entertainment as director, sales development, Asia. Pushkarna was also the head, digital distribution and licensing, India and Southeast Asia at 21st Century Fox before Sony.

    Previously, he has also worked with Microsoft, NBC Universal Media and HSBC.

  • Disney’s flagship streaming service to enter market in late 2019

    Disney’s flagship streaming service to enter market in late 2019

    MUMBAI: Walt Disney (Disney) reported strong earnings for the fiscal fourth-quarter topping analysts' expectations. While Media Networks revenue for the quarter increased 9 per cent year-over-year to $6 billion, Studio Entertainment revenues for the quarter increased 50 per cent to $2.2 billion. Along with the financial result, the company also announced that its streaming service set to launch late next year in US market which will be called Disney+.

    “Disney+ will be offering a rich array of original Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic content, along with unprecedented access to our incredible library of film and television content, including all of our new theatrical releases, starting with the 2019 slate,” Disney chairman and CEO Robert A Iger said.

    The content pipeline of the flagship service will also include The Mandalorian, the world's first live action Star Wars series written and produced by Jon Favreau. A rebooted version of Disney’s super hit The High School Musical franchise will be also a part of the content pipeline. Moreover, the service will be the exclusive home of the next season of the popular Star Wars animated series Clone Wars. A live-action Marvel series about Loki starring Tom Hiddleston is also being developed.

    Its other streaming service ESPN+ which was launched six months ago already has more than 1 million subscribers. As of now it owns 60 per cent stake in Hulu also. Disney thinks there's an opportunity to increase investment in the digital platform on the programming side. However, as Comcast and AT&T Time Warner are other two partners in Hulu, it will keep an eye toward being fiscally responsible to the other shareholders.

    While Disney purchased Fox for $71.3 billion in cash and stock, it is confident that the television business that it is buying is very attractive, not just in the US. “If you factor in Star in India and the rest of Asia, and you factor in Europe where they have a substantially greater footprint of channels than we do, which by the way may ultimately end up helping us with content and distribution when it comes to the direct-to-consumer business,” Iger commented.

    Going beyond Wall Street’s projected earnings of $6.94 per share on $58.87 billion in revenue for the full year, Disney reported adjusted earnings of $7.08 per share on $59.43 billion in revenue. While the company is happy with the financial performance in fiscal 2018, they want to remain focused on the successful completion and integration of 21st Century Fox acquisition and the further development of our direct-to-consumer business.

  • The Walt Disney Company names new organisational structure for media networks biz

    The Walt Disney Company names new organisational structure for media networks biz

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company, as part of the integration planning for its pending acquisition of 21st Century Fox, today announced plans for a new organisational structure for its media networks segment, conditional upon closing of the deal. Under the new structure, several 21st Century Fox executives would assume leadership roles at the Disney business segment once the acquisition closes.

    “The strength of 21st Century Fox’s first-class management talent has always been a compelling part of this opportunity for us,” said The Walt Disney Company chairman and chief executive officer Robert A Iger. “Upon completion of the acquisition, this new structure positions these proven leaders to help drive maximum value from a greatly enhanced portfolio of incredible brands and businesses.”

    Peter Rice will become chairman, Walt Disney Television and co-chair, Disney Media Networks, reporting directly to Iger. The new organisation under Rice will include ABC Television Network, ABC Studios, the ABC Owned Television Stations Group, Disney Channels, Freeform, Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Networks and FX Productions, Fox 21 Television Studios, and the National Geographic channels.

    “I love making television and have been fortunate to work with incredibly talented executives and storytellers. Disney is the world’s preeminent creative company, and I look forward to working for Bob, and with his exceptional leadership team, to build on that amazing legacy. I also want to thank Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch for the privilege of working on such a wide array of movies and television, both entertainment and sports. It has been a wonderful thirty years,” Rice said.

    Rice’s appointment will take effect upon completion of the acquisition. He is currently president of 21st Century Fox and chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Networks Group.

    Reporting to Rice will be: Dana Walden, Chairman, Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment; John Landgraf, chairman of FX Networks and FX Productions; Gary E. Knell, chairman of National Geographic Partners; Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney Channels Worldwide and James Goldston, president, ABC News

    Walden’s portfolio will include Twentieth Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studios, as well as ABC Entertainment, ABC Studios, Freeform and the ABC Owned Television Stations Group. She is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Television Group.

    Disney Media Networks co-chair Ben Sherwood and Disney|ABC Television Group President, will remain in his current role during the transition period until the acquisition closes.

    “I want to personally thank Ben Sherwood for his years of service at ABC and Disney. Ben has been a valued colleague, and I deeply appreciate his many contributions and insights, as well as his professionalism and cooperation in this transition,” Iger said.

    Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox has received formal approval from shareholders of both companies, and Disney and 21st Century Fox have entered into a consent decree with the US Department of Justice that allows the acquisition to proceed, while requiring the sale of the Fox Sports Regional Networks. The transaction is subject to a number of non-US merger and other regulatory reviews.