The end is near!!!

[albino_pygmy]

So, Blackstone Group is selling it's 50% shares of Universal, and NBC didn't want it. So guess who wants half of Universal? The only place that topped off the Kingdom of Duloc as the Happiest Totalitarian Dictatorship in the World.

http://disneybrit.com/?p=1584


Here's to hoping this is an early April Fool's joke *crosses fingers*

[Shorty82]

Could you tell us what it says? I can't get to the linked website right now for some reason, it seems to be down.

[hobie16]

Disney Executives, including Bob Iger... in discussions for the past few weeks... bid to take over Blackstones 50%... talks are well in advance...deal is looking very promising” said Iger... develop the Universal resort further... expand our current partnership with the Marvel characters.. expect to see the deal finalised in the near future... expected to cost Disney around around $5.45 billion... give them a major share of the theme park market in Orlando... expect to be able to buy a multi-day ticket giving access to both Disney and Universal parks...also talk of Disney and Universal providing better transport links between the two resorts.

[Rob562]

Until I see something reported by a major news company, and not just a blog that I've never heard of, I'm going to also tentatively classify this as an April Fool's Day item that got posted an hour or two early...

The part about Blackstone wanting to get out from Universal Orlando is true, though. Their first option is to sell to NBC/Universal. But if they don't/can't buy out Blackstone, the two may be forced to sell the entire resort to a 3rd party.

-Rob

[glendalais]

Until I see something reported by a major news company, and not just a blog that I've never heard of, I'm going to also tentatively classify this as an April Fool's Day item that got posted an hour or two early...

The part about Blackstone wanting to get out from Universal Orlando is true, though. Their first option is to sell to NBC/Universal. But if they don't/can't buy out Blackstone, the two may be forced to sell the entire resort to a 3rd party.

-Rob

It wasn't necessarily early. The site in question is based out of the UK, it was indeed 1 April for them when they posted it ;) .

There are many sources that could and would break the news quite quickly if Disney were about to buy out UO, a small British-based Disney blog/podcast site is most definately not one of them.

[kcberlin]

From the website:

"Yes, some of you guessed it already! This indeed was an April Fool. Sorry to those who fell for it (you know who you are) and those who actually researched it until they relised it was an April Fool. I won’t do one next year, or maybe I will!!"

[WWWD]

The Blackstone Group wanting out is real enough.

If Blackstone forces a fire sale of the park, this April Fool's joke could turn into reality, IMHO. Eiger would be a fool to pass up this opportunity to buy up the competition.

[ectomstr]

Question is, what happens to Marvel Superhero island from that point. If it's sold to a third party that is.

[PatchOBlack]

Question is, what happens to Marvel Superhero island from that point. If it's sold to a third party that is.

Well, if it is purchased by Disney, no worries, as Disney owns Marvel.

Now, if Disney did buy the Universal theme parks, what changes would we see? This is assuming that they would maintain the rights to use the characters and such from the various films, at least the ones already in place.

[Zazu]

The Marvel characters are used under a contract. If the theme park is sold, unless the contract provides otherwise, the ownership of that contract would come with it.

Thus when Marvel was purchased by Disney, the contract with Universal was unchanged. While it may now be less likely to get renewed, Disney can't just cancel it unless there was an exception written into the contract.

One example of an exception would be the clause that JK Rowlings can pull her license for Harry Potter if she doesn't approve of USF managment (or so I understand).

Hey lawbodies, I get that about right?