Question 1: Disney

New York Time, July 27, 2018

"Disney and Fox Shareholders Approve Deal, Ending Corporate Duel"

Edmund Lee and Brooks Barnes

One empire grows. Another shrinks. In separate ballrooms at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Friday morning, shareholders of the Walt Disney Company (Disney)(Links to an external site.) and 21st Century Fox (FOX)(Links to an external site.) agreed to a $71.3 billion purchase plan that gives Disney the bulk of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, substantially altering the entertainment landscape. Avatar," the "X-Men" movies, "Titanic" and TV shows such as "The Simpsons" and "This Is Us" will now be owned by Disney. That adds to an already enviable content stockpile from divisions that include Lucasfilm, Marvel Entertainment and Pixar Animation Studios. The deal also gives Disney the cable networks FX and National Geographic; a controlling stake in the streaming service Hulu, which has more than 20 million subscribers; and Star, one of India's fastest growing media companies.

The Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2020

"Disney Strategy for Fox Assets Comes Into Focus as Executives Quit"

Joe Flint

Walt DisneyCo. is drawing up a new script for the entertainment assets it acquired from 21st Century Fox. Last week, the heads of the Hulu streaming platform and the Twentieth Century movie studio departed as Disney's strategy for both units and their role within the rest of the company became clearer. At Hulu, the video-streaming service with 28.5 million subscribers, the resignation of Randy Freer as chief executive is a continuation of the consolidation of the creative and business operations there. At Twentieth Century Studios, it was a similar story for its president, Emma Watts. Intellectual property that had been under her auspices was taken away and the overall role of the studio is shifting as it is incorporated with Disney's vast movie machine. The pair were facing reduced roles if they had stayed and opted to leave instead. In the case of Mr. Freer,who had led Hulu since late 2017, it was clear that the service would lose the autonomy it enjoyed when it was a venture of three companies: Disney, Fox andComcastCorp.Disney had already moved Hulu's original-programming unit awayfrom Mr. Freer and put it under Disney's larger television operations. Now Disney will incorporate ad sales, distribution, legal and other operations as well. With the exception of programming, all of Hulu will be under rising star Kevin Mayer, chairman of Disney's international and direct-to-consumer operations. He also oversees the Disney+ and ESPN+ streaming services.

Did this acquisition make sense? Please give a detailed explanation of your response. How you would manage the post-merger integration process. Please lay out a detailed plan that includes examples.

Please try including these 4 topics:

1. Business Strategy:

- External (Porter's Five Forces)

- Threat of New Entrants

- Bargaining Power of Buyers

- Threat of Substitutes

- Bargaining Power of Suppliers

- RIvalry Among Existing Competitors

- Positioning: cost / leadership

- Internal (Resources / Capabilities): VRIO (Value, Rarity, Inimitability, Organizational Fit)

- Sustaining Competitive Advantage: Imitation, Substitution, Slack, hold-up

- Renewing Competitive Advantage: Innovation, Blue Ocean

2. Corporate Level Strategy - scale and scope

3. Diversification - synergies

- The different tests: Attractiveness, Better Off, Ownership, Cost to Entry

4. Mergers & Acquisitions / Alliances

- Logic behind? (same tests as above)

- Choice of integration process depends on objectives

- Objectives must take into account integration challenges

- Post merger integration plan