Disney's Acquisition of Fox Expected to Drastically Change the Entertainment Industry

Most companies in this day and age are subsidiaries of other companies and there is a relatively small number of parent corporations that own the majority of the other corporations. Disney Inc. is one of those parent companies, and their business decisions over the past couple of decades have made them one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world. According to an article by the staff of the L.A. Times, Disney's most recent move is to acquire 21st Century Fox, a deal that could completely reshape the entertainment industry.

Most of Disney's sprawling growth has happened since Robert Iger was named CEO in 2005. However, even before Iger, Disney Inc. had begun to acquire competitors and build an entertainment empire. In 1996, Disney made a move that first brought Iger to the company: they purchased Capital Cities/ABC and thereby gained ESPN as well (which was a subsidiary of Capital Cities) for $19 billion. Iger was president of Capital Cities at the time, and the acquisition introduced him to the executive arena of the Disney entertainment powerhouse.

Then, in 2006, after Iger was made CEO, Disney made its second main power move, this time to address a decline in its animation department. After several animated films that flopped in the box office, Disney spent $7.4 billion to acquire Pixar Animation Studios in a stock deal, which allowed them to retain John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, the geniuses behind Pixar hits like "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story." The acquisition has since paid off many times, as the Disney-Pixar animation team has arguably become the best in the world.

The action film franchises were next on Disney's road to supremacy. In 2009, Disney purchased Marvel Films for $4 billion, and in 2012, they acquired Lucasfilm (and the Star Wars franchise) for another $4 billion. Since then, Disney has made dozens of movies set in the Marvel cinematic universe and has just released another movie set in the Star Wars universe, and will soon be opening a Star Wars Land at Disneyland. Additionally, by owning those two companies, Disney has put itself in a position to rival streaming sites like Hulu or Netflix by limiting the spread of their movies on competing streaming platforms. Then, by acquiring a controlling stake in BamTech (a streaming video company) in 2017, Disney has assured itself a competitive advantage in the online streaming market, both for sports (ESPN) and TV shows/movies.

Disney's latest move to purchase 21st Century Fox could be its most important decision in making sure it remains the most powerful entertainment company in the world. It's possible that government regulators will stop the $52.4 billion deal on anti-trust arguments, but if the purchase goes through, Disney will be able to add several existing shows (The Simpsons, Family Guy, etc) to its video streaming service, will gain a majority stake in streaming competitor Hulu, and will gain control of another studio, as well as Fox's television channels, including FX and National Geographic. Disney will be more powerful than any other company could hope to be, and that is likely to affect Hollywood in unpredictable ways,

***************************************************************************************************
Find out more about us at www.sepulvedaescrow.net. Any Questions? Contact our Escrow Expert! Sepulveda Escrow Corporation (818) 838-1831. Follow our company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

**************************************************************************************************

Ikea Acquires TaskRabbit App, Helping Customers Connect with Furniture Assemblers

Tens of thousands of Americans have tasks that they don't want to do themselves. Either the jobs are physically impossible, or require skills that they don't have, or are simply not worth their time. In an effort to address that common problem, in 2008 Leah Busque founded a company called RunMyErrand, which later evolved into the app known as TaskRabbit. People around the country can use the app to hire "Taskers" to run errands or do odd jobs, and TaskRabbit keeps a percentage for connecting users to workers. According to Tracey Lien and Samantha Masunaga's L.A. Times article, Ikea recently acquired TaskRabbit in order to pair up furniture-building Taskers with Ikea's customers.

TaskRabbit was one of the very first on-demand apps, where users could pay a fee or an hourly rate to get a job done. Since then, many other companies have come in to fill the market, from Uber to Postmates and everything in between. The acquisition of TaskRabbit was a logical one for Ikea because their customers generally already outsourced the job of putting together their furniture anyway. Many customers can't figure out how to assemble Ikea furniture, so it is often simpler for them to hire someone to do it instead. By acquiring TaskRabbit, Ikea is able to get the business on both ends.

From another perspective, Ikea acquired TaskRabbit as an investment, given that the app has been pretty successful over the years since its conception. The company provides a smartphone app that allows Taskers to connect with users looking to hire help. In exchange for providing the service and convenience of their app, TaskRabbit receives 30% of the hourly payment being given to the Tasker completing the job, which is a pretty large chunk of money when movers and furniture assemblers can be making anywhere between $30 and $80 per hour. Neither company has released a public statement about how much the company sold for, but it can probably be assumed that Ikea made a sound investment.

Other on-demand service companies like Uber and Lyft or Sprig and Homejoy have either had to rely on millions of dollars in venture capital and debt financing or have failed to raise enough money and have had to go bankrupt before ever obtaining success. TaskRabbit is different in that it's been profitable for quite a while. The company's acquisition by Ikea is probably a good thing for its future growth. Now that they are connected to the largest furniture company in the US, they have the resources to expand more rapidly and reach a larger, international base of customers.

***************************************************************************************************
Find out more about us at www.sepulvedaescrow.net. Any Questions? Contact our Escrow Expert! Sepulveda Escrow Corporation (818) 838-1831. Follow our company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

**************************************************************************************************