HOLLYWOOD - The Walt Disney Co., whose chairman, Michael Eisner, said last week that he is reviewing the company's deal to buy Fox Family Worldwide, may end
up paying about $100 million less than the deal originally called for,
the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times reported
today, citing unnamed people close to the talks between the
companies.
Disney had agreed to buy Fox Family last July for $3 billion
in cash and $2.3 billion in debt, an amount that many analysts deemed
excessive at the time it was announced.
Although News Corp Chairman
Rupert Murdoch has maintained that there was "no way" that Disney could
alter the deal, the Los Angeles Times said that News Corp had
agreed to the concession in order to keep Disney from slowing down its
completion.