The sale covered the majority of 21CF's entertainment assets, including 20th Century Fox, FX Networks, and National Geographic Partners among others.

[8][9][10] Plans for the split were originally announced on June 28, 2012, while additional details and the working name of the new company were unveiled on December 3, 2012.

[11][12][13] Murdoch stated that performing this split would "unlock the true value of both companies and their distinct assets, enabling investors to benefit from the separate strategic opportunities resulting from more focused management of each division."

[19][20][21][22] On January 8, 2014, Rupert Murdoch announced plans to delist 21st Century Fox's shares from the Australian Securities Exchange, in favor of solely trading on the NASDAQ.

[24] In June 2014, 21st Century Fox made a bid to acquire Time Warner, which had similarly spun off its publishing assets, for $80 billion in a cash and stock deal.

The deal, which was rejected by Time Warner's board of directors in July 2014, would have also involved the sale of CNN to ease antitrust issues.

The deal was approved by the European Commission on April 7, 2017,[38] followed by Ireland's Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment on June 27.

[49] The Kingdom Holding Company, owned by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, sold its minority stake in 21st Century Fox during the fiscal quarter ending September 2017.

[50] On December 14, 2017, after rumors of such a sale, The Walt Disney Company began its acquisition of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion after the spin-off of certain businesses, pending regulatory approval.

[57] The proposed transaction raised antitrust issues, due to concerns that it could have led to a tangible loss in competition in the film and sports broadcasting industries.

Despite initially bidding $60 billion earlier, Fox had rejected Comcast's offer due to the possibility of antitrust concerns.

[61][62][63] On May 5, 2018, it was reported that Comcast was preparing to make an unsolicited, all-cash counteroffer to acquire the 21st Century Fox's assets Disney has offered to purchase, contingent on the outcome of an antitrust lawsuit AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner.

[69][70][71] On June 13, 2018, the day after AT&T was given an approval to merge with Time Warner, Comcast officially announced a $65 billion counter-offer to acquire the 21st Century Fox's assets Disney had offered to purchase.

[75] The proposed purchase was given antitrust approval by the Department of Justice on June 27, 2018, under the condition that Disney divest all of Fox's regional sports networks.

The acquisition was expected to be completed by late January 2019, after remaining regulatory approvals are granted in China and the European Union.

[77][78][79] In October 2018, it was reported that the new, post-merger organizational structure of "New Fox" would be implemented by January 1, 2019, ahead of the closure of the Disney sale (which was still expected to occur within the early of March).

[80] On November 6, 2018, the European Commission approved the sale, pursuant to the divestment of A&E Networks properties in Europe deemed to overlap with those of Fox.

[86] On February 27, 2019, the sale was approved by Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), with Disney having agreed to the expected divestiture of Fox Sports Latin America.

[93] The sale to Disney put around $2 billion into each of the pockets of Rupert Murdoch's offspring, including Lachlan, James, their sister Elisabeth, and half-sister Prudence MacLeod.