Thursday, December 14, 2017

Disney buys Fox's TV and movie business. It's The Daily Crunch

THE DAILY CRUNCH
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14 2017 By Darrell Etherington

Disney acquires Fox's film and TV business, which could alter the course of streaming and direct-to-consumer content delivery significantly. Also, Apple's super expensive, super fancy iMac Pro has arrived. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for December 14, 2017.

1. Disney buys Fox's TV and movie business

Media mega-merger ahoy! Disney has announced an official deal reached with Fox to acquire its TV and movies studios and properties, as well as controlling stakes in Sky and Hulu.

This is one of the biggest mergers ever, provided it goes through, and will have huge implications for Disney's streaming plans, as well as for major, beloved properties including Star Wars and Marvel.

2. The Disney deal's impact on Hulu and Disney's streaming strategy

Disney is gearing up to go it alone in streaming media delivery – should it come to that. The company's CEO Bob Iger revealed that Disney looks forward to being able to direct the development of Hulu itself, without having to balance the needs of all partners involved equally. Also, it could eventually offer one big package to stream all of its content across sports, family and more mature programming.

3. Apple's iMac Pro is a dark, desperately expensive dream

The iMac Pro has landed, in December as promised. Apple's space gray incarnation of its all-in-one desktop has impressive specs that are probably up to the task of most demanding professionals, but it also has an incredible cost to match.

4. Andrew Ng's news company is bringing AI to mass manufacturing

AI industry leader Andrew Ng is building a new company with a focus on a specific issue – bringing additional smarts to the manufacturing industry. It has a very strong initial partner, too – Foxconn, the manufacturing giant that helps assemble Apple's iPhone.

5. "Organism company" Ginkgo Bioworks now valued at over $1 billion

A company that works with DARPA to create new probiotics has raised $275 million and increased its valuation to over $1 billion via a new funding round. Designer bioorganics are big business, just like in most modern sci-fi, so ready yourself for our dystopian future.

6. Andreessen Horowitz has a new bio-focused fund

Leading investment firm Andreessen Horowitz has a second bio fund, with total committed capital at $450 million. That's a big bet on the future of this space, which some are saying is going to get white-hot again once the crypto craze dies down a bit.

7. Pepsi orders 100 Tesla trucks

Tesla already has a ton of orders for its electric Semi, including 100 from Pepsi – its largest single order to date. There's a lot riding on its ability to deliver with these initial orders, because they represent only a small percentage of the total fleets of these customers, and could pave the way for significant volume orders to follow.

Also, check out the TechCrunch Gift Guide for 2017. It's got something for everyone, and I mean everyone.

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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