As part of their deal to sell assets to the Walt Disney Co., the Murdoch family at the head of 21st Century Fox wants Disney CEO Bob Iger to run things a bit longer, according to reports.
Iger, 66, who has already extended his term Disney several times , is now set to retire in 2019.
But the Murdochs, including patriarch Rupert Murdoch, who would become big Disney shareholders, want Iger to stay and manage the integration of the Fox assets, valued at about $60 billion, according to reports.
Those assets include cable channeles such as FX, the TV and movie studios, regional sports networks in the U.S., and international assets including stakes in Sky and Star TV.
Earlier reports indicated that James Murdoch, Rupert’s son who was named CEO in 2015, would take a senior post at Disney and possibly succeed Iger as CEO at some point.
Under Iger, Disney is looking to become a big player in the streaming, direct-to-consumer market, competing with Netflix. The Fox assets would give it more programming for streaming products.
Related: Disney Resumes Talks About Buying Fox Assets-Reports
(Photo via WikiMedia Commons. This photo was originally posted to Flickr by hyku. Photo was taken on June 10, 2010. Photo used under Creative Commons License 2.0. Photo was cropped to fit 16x9 aspect ratio)
