Submitted by: Submitted by nicoleariga
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Pages: 8
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 04/17/2016 11:19 AM
The Walt Disney Company Vs. 21st Century Fox
January 7, 2016
An Overview of the Companies
For this comparison I have selected The Walt Disney Company (https://ditm-twdc-us.storage.googleapis.com/2015/10/2014-Annual-Report.pdf) and 21st Century Fox (file:///Users/Niki/Downloads/21st%20Century%20Fox%20FY%202014%20Annual%20Report.pdf). Both companies are comprised of their original and possibly best known business plus a number of subsidiaries that function with various levels of autonomy in many different countries. There is an obvious tone difference between Disney and Fox’s reports. Fox’s net income is slightly below their previous year, but their word choice is often advisory or defensive in nature. They complete 14 paragraphs with some variation of the phrase “it is not possible to predict the outcome” (21st Century Fox, 2015) which is rather unsettling from a potential investor’s point of view. On the other hand, Disney does not offer up much supporting information and sometimes leaves the reader with more questions than answers.
Comparing and Contrasting Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox
From a plan standpoint, both companies nearly identical formatting throughout and begin with their business information directly following the letter from the CEO. Interestingly, Fox launches into an explanation of recent legal trouble rather suddenly in the third paragraph. Perhaps they are trying to explain the embarrassing investigation away early in the document, but regardless it seems almost out of place between the historical information and explanation of their fiscal year. Fox’s background information, disclaimers and recent developments takes up two pages and includes frequent discussion of how their forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance (21st Century Fox, 2015). The language is verbose and the tone is nearly cautionary. In fact, they use the word “risk” 68 times through the 154-page report (21st Century Fox, 2015).
On the...