by: Jame A. Barnes

The Disney and Fox shareholders have officially approved the merger for Fox's assets in the amount of $71.3 billion dollars.

The shareholders gathered on Friday morning at the New York Hilton for separate meetings to vote on the merger. 

The Disney gathering took less than 10 minutes and was led by Disney general counsel Alan Braverman and CFO Christine McCarthy and had a near unanimous approval from the Disney shareholders. Gerson Zweifach, general counsel of 21st Century Fox, told Fox shareholders the merger is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019.

With the acquisition of Fox, Disney has added yet another huge company under their belt. In 2009 Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4B, as well as Lucasfilm for $4B. Disney also acquired BAMTech, a video streaming service meant to be the base of Disney’s upcoming streaming service. 

Disney already received the go ahead from the Justice Department to approve the purchase, on the condition that they sell off Fox's 22 regional sports networks within 90 days of closing the deal. Disney is still waiting on approval from several foreign governments regarding the deal.

When asked about the merger, Bob Iger had this to say:

“We’re incredibly pleased that shareholders of both companies have granted approval for us to move forward, and are confident in our ability to create significant long-term value through this acquisition of Fox’s premier assets,” “We remain grateful to Rupert Murdoch and to the rest of the 21st Century Fox board for entrusting us with the future of these extraordinary businesses, and look forward to welcoming 21st Century Fox’s stellar talent to Disney and ultimately integrating our businesses to provide consumers around the world with more appealing content and entertainment options.”