Thanks to Rupert Murdoch being an obsolete asshole, plus Disney's need for omnipresence, we're now left with the super-conglomerate that will truly rule the entertainment industry.
But of course that will come with its (endless) pitfalls. The most short-term will, of course, be layoffs. LOTS of layoffs - as many as 4,000 people will lose their job thanks to the Disney/Fox merger.
So far:
-- FOX has laid off top staff in the SVP, EVP, and president levels, including domestic distribution head Chris Aronson, Heather Phillips, EVP and head of domestic publicity, and Mike Dunn, president of product strategy and consumer business development, and many top marketing positions.
-- FOX TV is now being hit, with 20th Century Fox Television Distribution president Mark Kaner being given the boot (note that he headed the division since 1994, yikes).
-- A list of those in top positions who still have their jobs (mostly at Disney) can be found here:
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/disney-leadership-fox-layoffs-1203169772/-- All positions at Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Animation, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel remain the same; no one's lost jobs there, to no surprise.
-- The atmosphere at the FOX lot in LA has been akin to a funeral (no surprise), with execs (the ones still with jobs) holed in up their offices, while regular employees fret about their future. Said an exec from another studio:
“We’ve been sitting around my desk, refreshing the articles and waiting for the next head to roll. It’s morbid, but these are our friends.”Source:
https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1108737510325264385