Major court losses and more favorable economic conditions could set the stage for a new round of megadeals and mergers.
But if Hollywood’s writers are hoping that new efforts by regulators can chill the sort of megadeal vertical mergers that have been gobbling up the entertainment landscape, they may be kept waiting. In fact, the government might be kick-starting a new round of M&A frenzy by losing major cases.
The problem for the regulators lies in proving that a vertical acquisition will suppress competition. Unlike with so-called horizontal mergers, vertical mergers do not result in immediate changes to market share since they concern companies that primarily do different things. Amid this regulatory backdrop, beleaguered companies in the media and entertainment industry may again look to dealmaking. Speculation about Disney chief executive Bob Iger hanging a possibly-for-sale sign on Disney’s TV businesses circle the company as its stock hovers at its lowest levels in nearly a decade. An acquisition or strategic partnership with ESPN for Apple to anchor its sports offerings on its fledgling streaming service is a “no brainer,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
In the WGAW’s August antitrust report, the guild took specific aim at Disney’s purchases of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, as well as Netflix’s acquisitions of production house Albuquerque Studios, animation shops Scanline VFX and Animal Logic, and intellectual property catalogs Millarworld and The Roald Dahl Story Co.
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