Rich Greenfield Breaks Down Why He's Bearish on Disney Buying Fox
Disney struck a deal on Thursday to help build up its arsenal of content as it prepares to launch its own video streaming service.
The media giant agreed to pay more than $52 billion for most of 21st Century Fox, adding the company's film and TV studios, international properties and channels such as FX.
But BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield says doesn't understand why the company wants to increase its exposure to the "troubled legacy media business."
"This feels like Disney is cementing itself in the past, rather than aggressively moving into the future," he told Cheddar in an interview shortly after the deal was announced. "There were a lot of transactions they could've done that would've been a lot more exciting than this."
The alternatives? Greenfield says Snap, Twitter, Activision-Blizzard, or Spotify would all have been better options.
But the deal does give Disney ownership of high-profile franchises such as "X-Men" and "The Simpsons," titles that could make the library for its own planned streaming service more attractive.
The company said in August that it will pull content off Netflix in 2019. Instead, films from "Iron Man" to "Star Wars" to "Toy Story" will only be available on its own platform.
To watch the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/btig-analyst-rich-greenfield-on-disney-fox-deal).
Disney's changes to a program for disabled visitors are facing challenges in federal court and through a shareholder proposal. The Disability Access Service program, which allows disabled visitors to skip long lines, was overhauled last year. Disney now mostly limits the program to those with developmental disabilities like autism who have difficulty waiting in lines. The changes have sparked criticism from some disability advocates. A shareholder proposal submitted by disability advocates calls for an independent review of Disney's disability policies. Disney plans to block this proposal, claiming it's misleading. It's the latest struggle by Disney to accommodate disabled visitors while stopping past abuses by some theme park guests.
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