The Daily Populous

Wednesday March 20th, 2019 day edition

image for Disney Closes $71.3 Billion Fox Deal, Creating Global Content Powerhouse

The Walt Disney Co. has closed its $71.3 billion acquisition of large parts of 21st Century Fox, expanding its global reach and content portfolio ahead of the planned launch of its own video streaming service.

Using fiscal-year 2017 data, Disney said in a regulatory filing that the new assets could quickly add about $19.3 billion in annual revenue and $1.6 billion in net income.

In that fiscal year, Disney reported $55.1 billion in revenue and $9.4 billion in net income.

Disney has promised $2 billion in cost savings from the Fox takeover, with some in the industry expecting between 4,000-10,000 layoffs.

Disney had in December 2017 struck a deal with Fox, controlled by the Murdoch family, for $52.4 billion.

Comcast in June 2018 unveiled a $65.0 billion offer for the Fox assets before Disney shot back with a sweetened $71.3 billion offer that led Comcast to end its pursuit of Fox.

The new Fox, led by Lachlan Murdoch as CEO and chairman and Rupert Murdoch as co-chairman, includes the Fox broadcast network, TV stations, the Fox News group and the Fox Sports assets. »

German Politicians Call Trump's Ambassador a 'Brat' and 'Total Diplomatic Failure,' Demand Immediate Expulsion

Authored by newsweek.com

Politicians in Germany lashed out at President Donald Trump’s ambassador to their country on Tuesday, with some criticizing the diplomat and even calling for his expulsion from Berlin.

Richard Grenell was appointed by Trump in May of last year, and has drawn significant controversy in his relatively short tenure as ambassador.

Pointing to what he alleged was repeated interference by Grenell, Kubicki urged Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to “immediately” expel the diplomat. »

The Supreme Court's 5-4 Ruling on Indefinite Detention of Noncitizens Is Appalling

Authored by esquire.com

The issue in the case before the justices had to do with the detention of noncitizens who have committed a broad range of crimes that make them deportable.

But those affected by the law aren’t always picked up immediately and are sometimes not detained until years later.

But the Supreme Court disagreed with the immigrants’ interpretation of federal law in a 5-4 ruling that divided the court along ideological lines. »

Google jumps into gaming with Google Stadia streaming service, coming “in 2019”

Authored by arstechnica.com

SAN FRANCISCO—At the Game Developers Conference, Google announced its biggest play yet in the gaming space: a streaming game service named Google Stadia, designed to run on everything from PCs and Android phones to Google's own Chromecast devices.

stats After the event, Google provided a fact sheet to Ars Technica confirming more stats about the hardware included in the Google Stadia stacks.

The idea of streaming games in general has been enjoying something of a resurgence since the failure of streaming service OnLive earlier in the decade. »