Acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Verizon

The acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Verizon was held from December 14, 2017 to March 20, 2019. The acquisition included the 20th Century Fox film studio, the Fox Broadcasting Company, FX Networks, among other assets.

Early information (November 2017–April 2018)
On November 12, 2017, Bloomberg News reported that Sony Corporation, via its Sony Pictures unit, was negotiating with an at-the-time unknown major media company, with rumours suggesting that the target was either Lionsgate (which at the time was negotiating with NBCUniversal) or 21st Century Fox. A day later, Variety confirmed that Sony had held talks with 21st Century Fox executive leadership, and that a bidding war between Sony, Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, and Verizon was occurring.

Three days later, The Walt Disney Company stated that it "had discussed an acquisition", but that it "withdrew due to renewed interest in the building of our own in-house production studios and content distribution businesses". Later, on November 16, Verizon announced that it also had withdrew, as it "planned to build its media operations based on Internet properties to connect with younger audiences". On the other hand, Comcast had explicitly stated that it "was looking to acquire 21st Century Fox to build the company's content portfolio", as well as "being able to offer a direct-to-consumer offering" at Comcast.

Some pundits, such as Ken Kobayashi, had pointed out that Sony's financial division had provided major funding to 21st Century Fox, and its predecessor News Corporation, in the past, which could give Sony leverage in the bidding war for 21st Century Fox. However, others, such as Jim Cramer, had instead suggested that Sony would go after Lionsgate, saying that it would "be a more conservative play, easier to manage and easier to buy" than 21st Century Fox.

On December 13, 2017, Sony and 21st Century Fox held a joint-press conference, in which Sony confirmed its intent to acquire all of 21st Century Fox for $36.4 billion. The deal would involve Sony Corporation (now Sony Group Corporation) acquiring 21st Century Fox via a special holding company known as Sony Entertainment Acquisition Inc., which would then hold all of the 21st Century Fox assets upon completion. After the completion, Sony Pictures would merge into the company, with the company renamed to Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., effectively reorganizing the company, as well as making 21st Century Fox defunct for most purposes, aside from copyright holdings.