21st Century Fox Sells Assets to Disney
U.S. stocks traded higher on Thursday after Disney agreed to buy some of 21st Century Fox’s assets.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 52 points and reached an all-time high. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent, with financials and industrials leading advancers. The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.2 percent.
Disney said Thursday it will pay $52.4 billion in stock to buy Fox’s movie studios, network Nat Geo, and Asian pay-TV operator Star TV, among other assets.
The acquisition bolsters Disney’s plans to become a dominant streaming service platform, making it a bigger threat to Netflix.
“While this deal has been rumored for the past few weeks, Iger & Co. making the deal official this morning is a transformational event for the future of the content and streaming landscape in our opinion,” said Dan Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights.