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Bob Iger, Hollywood's last titan

Moving the Market: Bob Iger has officially closed his $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox, making Disney the one and only Hollywood studio powerful enough to compete with the tech and telecom giants that are taking over American media.

• The Big Picture: Disney's Fox acquisition marks the end of a century in which Disney competed against other Hollywood studios and the beginning of an era in which it will compete with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, etc.

One year ago, a very senior Hollywood executive told me that eight companies would soon control all domestic media: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, AT&T, Charter, Comcast and Verizon. But if there's one Hollywood outfit that can compete on its own for a few more years (decades?) before being acquired, it's Disney.

• That's because Iger has built an unparalleled content portfolio through relentless acquisition: Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and now Fox, which is the biggest and boldest bet in the company's history.

• The Disney arsenal now includes Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions and FX Networks, and majority control of Hulu, to name a few.

• "Iger sought the Fox assets to fortify Disney against the onslaught from the north," LAT's Meg James writes. "Technology giants with mounds of cash — Netflix, Google, Apple, Amazon — have attracted millions of customers to their streaming services."

What's Next: Iger will now focus on Disney's direct-to-consumer strategy, which he has called "our highest priority.” This includes Disney+, which will launch later this year, and ESPN+, which is already up and running.

"The challenges are daunting," per NYT's Brooks Barnes:

• "Mr. Iger and his lieutenants need to persuade investors to start viewing Disney more like a technology company, where near-term financial turbulence is often overlooked."

• "Integrating the Fox assets will bring headaches that include substantial layoffs — analysts project more than 3,000 — and the melding of two starkly different corporate cultures."

Iger: “This is an extraordinary and historic moment for us ... and [makes Disney] the preeminent global entertainment company, well positioned to lead in an incredibly dynamic and transformative era.”

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The Murdochs build a board

Old Fox, New Tricks: With the Disney deal complete, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch have officially launched Fox Corp to house the assets they could not sell to Iger: Fox News, Fox Sports and Fox Broadcasting.

They're also building a board:

• Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch ... Jacques Nasser, former Ford Motor Co. chief ... Chase Carey, Formula 1 chairman and CEO ... Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the House ... Anne Dias, founder of Aragon Global Holdings. ... Roland Hernandez, Hernandez Media Ventures CEO.

What's Next: Fox's focus will be on live events, including news, sports and unscripted reality shows. It launches with the Fox News cash cow and rights to highly coveted sporting events like Thursday Night Football, the World Series and WWE Smackdown.

🎮 Rally the Market 🎮

Stadia Arcadia: Sundar Pichai has unveiled Google's Stadia, a video game streaming service that does away with the home console and lets people play from anywhere with an internet connection.

• What's Next: The gamification of education.

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Mark Zuckerberg's Insta-$$

Big in the Bay: Instagram will now let people buy products they see in photos and stories directly through the app, "providing instant gratification for the trend-obsessed and a new source of income for... Facebook," Bloomberg's Sarah Frier reports:

• "Starting Tuesday, the photo-sharing app is testing a shopping feature, called Checkout, with a handful of retailers including Nike Inc. and designer fashion platform Revolve."

• "On Checkout, people will be able to buy directly within Instagram, rather than being directed to a retailer’s website."

The Big Picture: Instagram’s head of product Vishal Shah tells Frier that this is "the next big business model opportunity after advertising" — which is pretty damn significant when you consider how much Facebook relies on advertising.

• Frier: "Facebook has tried many times to build e-commerce businesses, with varied success. On Instagram, the transition is happening more naturally, as people tend to follow brands and influencers for lifestyle inspiration..."

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Sheryl Sandberg's civil shift

Dept. of Course Correction: Sheryl Sandberg says Facebook is making policy changes that will prevent advertisers for housing, employment or credit from discriminating based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and several other factors covered by civil rights laws.

• The move comes after Facebook reached settlements (totaling nearly $5 million) with civil rights organizations and labor groups that had accused the company of enabling discrimination.

Meanwhile, at Apple ... Tim Cook is partnering with media literacy programs in the U.S. and Europe to fight fake news.

Market Links

• Tim Armstrong leaves Verizon with $60 million (WSJ)

• Bob Bakish faces a showdown with DirecTV (Reuters)

• Sean Mills plans to debut new shows at Snap (Axios)

• Ev Williams is courting publishers for Medium (NYT)

• Patrick Soon-Shiong has high hopes for LAT (WSJ)

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John Stankey's CEO search

Talk of Tinseltown: WarnerMedia chief John Stankey is on the hunt for a new Warner Bros. chief after Kevin Tsujihara resigned amid allegations that he used his position to advance the career of a woman with whom he was accused of having an affair.

Variety's Cynthia Littleton and Brent Lang say he would do well to hire someone with "deep digital chops."

• "Warner Bros.’ new leadership will need to be able to deftly balance the old and the new in Hollywood."

• "The studio has to keep turning out popular TV shows and movies, but it also must navigate the digital distribution landscape and the new focus on 'transmedia' franchise management to make the most of its IP-rich vaults, such as the DC Comics trove."

• "Warner Bros. also has a big business in video games and digital content that Tsujihara helped build before he got the CEO job in 2013."

Meanwhile: Vanity Fair's Nicole Sperling reports that Tsujihara's ouster was met with a sense of relief in some corners of Warner Bros, because "rumors of allegations of sexual impropriety had been swirling around [him] for more than a year."

What Next: NYT's Mike Isaac says "there is is a growing interest" in newsletters: "The inbox is becoming a more attractive medium than the news feed."

Couldn't agree more. See you tomorrow.