Talks came about last month that Disney was looking to purchase a majority control of 21st Century Fox, and it appears they have heated up enough to make Bob Iger stick around a bit longer. It originally seemed as if talks between Fox and Disney died as soon as they started but picked up again in late November. As a deal appears imminent by next week, Iger is now expected to stay with The Walt Disney Company past his most recent plan to leave in the middle of 2019.
As stated by Investors , a deal for Disney to acquire the movie and TV studios of 21st Century Fox could come as early as next week, and it has started a ripple effect. The deal would bring together almost every character in the Marvel movie world and they would all be under the Marvel Studios umbrella.
It may be needless to say, but this has had comic book fans thrilled at the idea of seeing their favorite characters together on the screen.
According to CNBC , this possible $60 billion deal could end up having Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger prolonging his stay with the company. While he’s always stated that he would extend his contract if it was in the best interest of the company, this would make the fourth time he has come to that conclusion.
Due to the huge deal that is on the horizon between Disney and Fox, Iger would stay on to oversee everything and make sure it goes well. From there, it is expected that Disney would extend Iger’s contract to make sure that the first couple of years have things run smoothly.
While this would be a huge deal for Disney, the company would not acquire all of Fox, but just the movie and TV studios. Fox would then focus on Fox Sports, business, and news to have those portions of the company grow on their own.
After acquiring Marvel and Lucasfilm in the last few years, Disney has seen its movie studios grow by leaps and bounds. The acquisition of 21st Century Fox would bring about numerous other movie properties and really make the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) complete and whole. This is an absolutely huge deal for Disney and it is not surprising that Bob Iger would rethink stepping down in 2019 and hang around a bit longer.