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Earlier this week, a major entertainment industry merger was announced: Disney is planning to buy 21st Century Fox for a whopping $ 52.4 billion. But while this might seem unrelated to the world of photography at first blush, a closer look reveals something pretty important.
If the purchase is allowed to go through, Disney will be the majority stake holder in National Geographic, taking over the 73% controlling share that Fox purchased in September of 2015.
In the scope of the entire deal, Fox’s share in National Geographic might seem like small potatoes—the entertainment giant bought Nat Geo for just $ 725 million (less that 1/50th what THEY are being bought for) and immediately set about cutting costs further by slashing 9% of Nat Geo’s workforce. But fans of the iconic brand will pay close attention to see what Disney plans to do with it.
For now, all we know is that National Geographic will join Pixar, ESPN, Marvel and many more well-known brands in Disney’s so-called “swollen portfolio” of entertainment assets.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)