Twenty-First Century Fox has accepted a new offer from The Walt Disney Company, Fox announced, restoring momentum to Disney’s acquisition of key Fox film and television assets.  The new offer, for $71.3 billion, is considerably higher than the $65 billion offer made by Comcast last week in an attempt to outbid Disney (see “Comcast Outbids Disney for Fox Assets”). 

Disney also changed the composition of its offer to allow Fox shareholders to take the buy-out in cash or stock, subject to 50/50 proration.  Disney’s first offer was an all-stock proposal; Comcast’s was all cash. 

The new deal “…offers a package of consideration, flexibility and deal certainty enhancements that is superior to the proposal made by the Comcast Corporation on June 13, 2018,” Fox said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Disney also has the inside track on regulatory approval, with the Department of Justice poised to approve the deal in as little as two weeks, according to Bloomberg.  For its part, Disney just pointed out that it is well along in the process for regulatory approval, which is a contrast to Comcast, which would begin the process only after an offer was accepted.  “We are already six months into the regulatory process and we are confident we have a clear and timely path to approval,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts on a call today.

Meanwhile, those that remember takeover battles of old know that two bids rarely ended the story.  Fox noted in its statement that its new agreement with Disney did not change “provisions relating to the Company’s directors’ ability to evaluate a competing proposal.” A package of assets like Fox’s don’t come on the market very often and they have unique value to the two companies already bidding, and perhaps to others as well.  Watch this space.