The Walt Disney Company’s pending purchase of 21st Century Fox made another massive step forward on Monday, as the deal has officially been approved by Chinese regulators.
According to Variety, the regulators in China have now given the green light to Disney’s purchase, moving it even closer to completion. Although the two companies agreed on the deal several months ago, international regulators need to approve the purchase before it can be completed. At this time, Disney is expecting the deal to be completed by sometime in 2019.
The approval from the Chinese market comes nearly two weeks after the European Commission gave it the thumbs-up. However, the European Commission had some conditions for the pending purchase.
“To address the Commission’s competition concerns, Disney committed to divest its interest in all factual channels it controls in the European Economic Area (EEA), namely: History, H2, Crime & Investigation, Blaze and Lifetime channels,” said a statement from the European Commission. “These channels are currently controlled by A+E Television Networks, which is a joint venture between Disney and Hearst. The commitments fully remove the overlap between Disney’s and Fox’s activities in the wholesale supply of factual channels in the EEA…
“Therefore, the Commission concluded that the proposed transaction, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns. The Commission’s decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments.”
Disney says it still needs approval from a few other regulators. However, OKs from the United States, the European Union and China were all widely considered the most important hurdles for Disney to clear.
Source: Variety
