1950s–1960s

The end of the Golden Age had been signaled by the majors' loss of a federal antitrust case that led to the divestiture of the Big Five's theater chains. Though this had virtually no immediate effect on the eight majors' box-office domination, it somewhat leveled the playing field between the Big Five and the Little Three. In November 1951, Decca Records purchased 28% of Universal; early the following year, the studio became the first of the classic Hollywood majors to be taken over by an outside corporation, as Decca acquired majority ownership.^[71] In 1953, Disney established its own distribution division, Buena Vista Film Distribution, to handle its own product which had been largely distributed by RKO. The 1950s also saw two substantial shifts in the hierarchy of the majors: RKO, perennially the weakest of the Big Five, declined rapidly under the mismanagement of Howard Hughes, who had purchased a controlling interest in the studio in 1948. By the time Hughes sold it to the General Tire and Rubber Company in 1955, the studio was a major by outdated reputation alone. In 1957, virtually all RKO movie operations ceased and the studio was dissolved in 1959. (Revived on a small scale in 1981, it was eventually spun off and now operates as a minor independent company.) In contrast, there was United Artists, which had long operated under the financing-distribution model the other majors were now progressively shifting toward. Under Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin, who began managing the company in 1951, UA became consistently profitable. By 1956—when it released one of the biggest blockbusters of the decade, Around the World in 80 Days—it commanded a 10% market share. By the middle of the next decade, it had reached 16% and was the second-most profitable studio in Hollywood.

Despite RKO's collapse, the remaining seven majors still averaged a total yearly release slate of 253 feature films during the decade.^[68] Following MCA Inc.'s acquisition of Decca Records and the aforementioned Universal under Lew Wasserman in 1962, the later half of the 1960s were marked by four others — Paramount, United Artists, Warner Bros., and MGM — involved in a spate of corporate takeovers that left Columbia, Fox, and its eventual parent company Disney under original ownership. Gulf+Western took over Paramount in 1966; and the Transamerica Corporation purchased United Artists in 1967. Warner Bros. underwent large-scale reorganization twice in two years: a 1967 merger with the Seven Arts company preceded a 1969 purchase by Kinney National, under Stephen J. Ross. MGM, in the process of a slow decline, changed ownership twice in the same span as well, winding up in the hands of financier Kirk Kerkorian also in 1969. The majors almost entirely abandoned low-budget production during this era, bringing the annual average of features released down to 160.^[68] The decade also saw Disney/Buena Vista commanding a prominent position in the market. Buoyed by the success of Mary Poppins, Disney achieved a 9% market share in 1964, more than Warner and its eventual subsidiary Fox. Though over the next two decades Disney/Buena Vista's share of the box-office would continue to reach this level, the studio was still not considered a major as it did not release many films, and those it did release were exclusively G-rated.

1970s–1980s

The early 1970s were difficult years for all the classic majors. Movie attendance, which had been declining steadily since the end of the Golden Age, hit an all-time low by 1971. In 1973, MGM president James T. Aubrey drastically downsized the studio, slashing its production schedule and eliminating its distribution arm (UA would distribute the studio's films for the remainder of the decade). From fifteen releases in 1973, the next year MGM was down to five; its average for the rest of the 1970s would be even lower.^[72] Like RKO in its last days under Hughes, MGM remained a major in terms of brand reputation, but little more. Disney by contrast began to ascend towards major status through a resurgence in its animated movies, beginning with The Rescuers (1977), and the studio began to enter the adult market with The Black Hole (1979), its first non-G rated film.

By the mid-1970s, the industry had rebounded and a significant philosophical shift was in progress. As the majors focused increasingly on the development of the next hoped-for blockbuster and began routinely opening each new movie in many hundreds of theaters (an approach called "saturation booking"), their collective yearly release average fell to 81 films during 1975–84.^[68] The classic set of majors was shaken further in late 1980, when the disastrously expensive flop of Heaven's Gate effectively ruined United Artists. The studio was sold the following year to Kerkorian, who merged it with MGM. After a brief resurgence, the combined studio continued to decline. From 1986, MGM/UA has been at best a "mini-major", to use the present-day term.

Meanwhile, a new member was finally admitted to the club of major studios and two significant contenders emerged. With the combined output of Walt Disney Pictures, the establishment of the Touchstone Pictures brand in 1984, and increasing attention to the adult live-action market during the early 1980s, Disney/Buena Vista secured acknowledgment as a full-fledged major.^[21] Film historian Joel Finler identifies 1986 as the breakthrough year, when Disney rose to third place in market share and remained consistently competitive for a leading position thereafter.^[73]

The two emerging contenders were both newly formed companies. In 1978, Krim, Benjamin, and three other studio executives departed UA to found Orion Pictures as a joint venture with Warner Bros. It was announced optimistically as the "first major new film company in 50 years".^[74] Tri-Star Pictures was created in 1982 as a joint venture of future corporate sibling Columbia Pictures (at that time acquired by the Coca-Cola Company), HBO (then owned by Warner Bros. Discovery's predecessor Time Inc.), and CBS. In 1985, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired 20th Century-Fox (thus dropping that name's hyphen), the last of both the classic Hollywood majors to be taken over by an outside corporation and five relatively healthy Golden Age majors to remain independent throughout that era and after until its eventual sale to Disney in 2019 brought back the Big Five for the first time since then.

By 1986, the combined share of the six classic majors — Paramount, MGM/UA, Fox, Warner Bros., Columbia and Universal — fell to 64%, the lowest since the beginning of the Golden Age. Fox's future parent company Disney was in third place, behind only Paramount and Warner. Even including Disney/Buena Vista as a seventh major and adding its 10% share (only for them to acquire Fox 33 years later), the majors' control of the North American market was at a historic ebb. Orion (now completely independent of Warner) and Tri-Star were well positioned as mini-majors, each with North American market shares of around 6% and regarded by industry observers as "fully competitive with the majors", much like MGM and Lionsgate by the turn of the century.^[75] Smaller independents garnered 13%—more than any studio aside from Paramount. In 1964, by comparison, all of the companies outside of the then-seven majors and Disney had combined for a grand total of 1%. In the first edition of Finler's The Hollywood Story (1988), he wrote, "It will be interesting to see whether the old-established studios will be able to bounce back in the future, as they have done so many times before, or whether the newest developments really do reflect a fundamental change in the US movie industry for the first times since the 20s."^[76]

1990s–2000s

With the exception of MGM/UA—whose position was effectively supplanted by Disney—the old-established studios did bounce back. The aforementioned purchase of 20th Century Fox by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation left its future parent company Disney under original ownership and presaged a new round of corporate acquisitions not long afterward. As part of that series, Columbia, Paramount and Warner Bros. received new owners once and for all while Universal changed corporate hands until the mid-2000s. Paramount's parent company Gulf+Western was renamed Paramount Communications and Coca-Cola sold Columbia to Japanese electronics firm Sony in 1989, creating Sony Pictures. The following year, Warner Communications merged with Time Inc. to birth Time Warner and Universal's parent company MCA was purchased by fellow Japanese electronics conglomerate Matsushita. At this time, both Tri-Star and Orion were essentially out of business: the former merged with Sony and Columbia, the latter bankrupt and sold to MGM. The most important contenders to emerge during the 1990s with Viacom's purchase of Paramount Communications in 1994 — New Line Cinema, Miramax, and DreamWorks SKG — were likewise sooner or later brought into the majors' fold. Shortly after, Matsushita sold MCA (and Universal) to Seagram in 1996, then Vivendi in 2000, and later NBC's parent company General Electric in 2004 to become NBCUniversal.

The development of in-house pseudo-indie subsidiaries by the conglomerates—sparked by the 1992 establishment of Sony Pictures Classics and the success of Pulp Fiction (1994) on home video, significantly undermined the position of the true independents. The majors' release schedule rebounded: the six (later five) primary studio subsidiaries alone put out a total of 124 films during 2006; the three largest secondary subsidiaries (New Line, Fox Searchlight, and Focus Features) accounted for another 30. Box-office domination was fully restored: in 2006, the then-six (now five) major movie conglomerates combined for 89.8% of the North American market; Lionsgate and Weinstein were almost exactly half as successful as their 1986 mini-major counterparts, sharing 6.1%; MGM came in at 1.8%; and all of the remaining independent companies split a pool totaling 2.3%.^[77]

More developments took place among the majors' subsidiaries. The very successful animation production house Pixar, whose films were distributed by Buena Vista, was acquired by Disney also in 2006. In 2008, New Line Cinema lost its independent status within Time Warner and became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Time Warner also announced that it would be shutting down its two specialty units, Warner Independent and Picturehouse.^[78] Also in 2008, Paramount Vantage's production, marketing, and distribution departments were folded into the parent studio,^[79] though it retained the brand for release purposes.^[80][81] Universal sold off its genre specialty division, Rogue Pictures, to Relativity Media in 2009.^[82]

2010–present

In January 2010,^[83] Disney closed down Miramax's operations and sold off the unit and its library that July to an investor group led by Ronald N. Tutor of the Tutor Perini construction firm and Tom Barrack of the Colony Capital private equity firm.^[84]

In March 2013, Comcast fully acquired Universal Studios after buying out the remaining 49% of NBCUniversal from General Electric.

On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company (the parent company of major film studio Walt Disney Studios) announced its intent to acquire key assets of 21st Century Fox (including fellow major film studio 20th Century Fox, along with Fox Searchlight Pictures and Blue Sky Studios).^[85][86] After beating out Comcast in a bidding war for Fox, both Disney and Fox shareholders approved the deal on July 27, 2018, and closed on March 20, 2019.^[87][88] As a result,^[85] the number of major film studios was reduced to five, a number that has not been since the Golden Age of Hollywood,^[89] thereby ending the era of the "Big Six" studios and Fox's 83-year reign as a member of that elite group.^[89]

From June 14, 2018, until its acquisition by Discovery in 2022, Warner Bros. was owned by AT&T, which completed its acquisition of Time Warner, renaming it "WarnerMedia",^[90] which contained all assets owned by Warner Bros. and its subsidiaries.

On August 13, 2019, Paramount Pictures parent, Viacom, announced its reunion with CBS Corporation, and the combined company would be called ViacomCBS, renamed Paramount also in 2022. The two companies previously merged in 2000 but split in 2005. The deal was completed on December 4, 2019.^[91][92] Meanwhile, CBS Corporation's mini-major film studio, CBS Films was folded into CBS Entertainment Group after releasing its 2019 film slate, switching its focus to creating original film content for CBS All Access.^[93]

On January 17, 2020, Disney dropped the "Fox" name from both 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures and rebranded them as 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures respectively, to avoid brand confusion with Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox Corporation. The "Searchlight Pictures" and "20th Century Studios" name were first seen on Downhill on February 14, and on The Call of the Wild a week later on February 21 respectively.^[94][95]

The studios were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with some cinema chains closing, precipitating box office flops (like Disney's Onward or Sony's Bloodshot). Several films were delayed (Universal and MGM's No Time to Die or Paramount's A Quiet Place Part II and even Disney's Black Widow and Mulan) and others were launched to the digital market (like Universal's The Invisible Man and Trolls World Tour and Warner Bros.' Birds of Prey, Scoob and Wonder Woman 1984).^[96]

On May 16, 2021, it was reported that AT&T was in talks with Discovery, Inc. for it to merge with and acquire Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia, forming a publicly traded company that would be divided between its shareholders.^[97] The proposed spin-off and acquisition was officially announced the next day, which was structured as a Reverse Morris Trust. AT&T shareholders would receive a 71% stake in the enlarged Discovery, which would be led by its current CEO David Zaslav. As the transaction closed on April 8, 2022, Discovery renamed itself Warner Bros. Discovery and ended AT&T's investment in the entertainment business.^{[98][99][100]}

On the same day after the announcement of the acquisition/merger of WarnerMedia by Discovery, Amazon entered negotiations with MGM Holdings to acquire Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The negotiations were made directly with MGM board chairman Kevin Ulrich whose Anchorage Capital Group is a major shareholder.^[101][102] MGM already began to explore a potential sale of the studio since December 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the domination of streaming platforms due to the closure of movie theaters as contributing factors.^[103][104] On May 26, 2021, it was officially announced that MGM would be acquired by Amazon for $8.45 billion, subject to regulatory approvals and other routine closing conditions; with the studio continuing to operate as a label under Amazon's existing content arm, complementing Amazon Studios and Amazon Prime Video.^[105] The acquisition closed on March 17, 2022.^[106]

Universal Pictures

• Independent, 1906–1936 (Carl Laemmle, a German-born American film producer, founded Universal Studios.)
• Standard Capital, 1936-1946 (Laemmle retired from the movie industry and sold a controlling interest of Universal to an American businessman Lewis Rosenstiel through Standard Capital.)
• Universal-International, 1946–1952 (Lewis Rosenstiel, an American businessman, acquired a controlling interest in Universal Pictures and merged it with International Pictures and Universal-International, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures Company for international distribution was created)
• Decca, 1951–1962 (Decca records bought Universal-International)
• MCA Inc., 1962–1998 (MCA purchased Decca, that's became then a subsidiary of MCA. MCA acquired also Universal Studios and merged with Universal officially.)
  • Matsushita Electric, 1990–1995 (Japanese conglomerate Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (now Panasonic) acquired MCA Inc. and with it Universal Pictures.)
  • Seagram, 1995–1996 (Seagram Company Ltd. acquired a majority of 80% of MCA Universal Pictures from Matsushita Electric.)
• Universal Studios, Inc., 1996 (MCA is renamed and reincorporated by Seagram)
  • Seagram, 1996-2000 (On December 9, 1996, the new owners dropped the MCA name, the company became Universal Studios, Inc. and folded into Universal Pictures.)
    • Universal Studios 1996–2014 (Universal Pictures was renamed as Universal Studios.)
• Vivendi, 2000 (Edgar Bronfman Jr sold a controlling interest of Seagram's entertainment division and combined those business to French water utility and media company Vivendi, and with it, Universal Studios.)
• Vivendi Universal, 2001–2004 (created on January 8, 2001, with the merger of the Vivendi media empire with Canal+ television networks and the acquisition of media assets of Canadian company Seagram Company Ltd, owner of Universal Studios.)
• NBCUniversal, 2004–present (NBC merged with the company, formed through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment)
  • General Electric/Vivendi, (formed on May 11, 2004, beginning on November 8, 2004, as NBC Universal, Inc., with the merger of General Electric's NBC with Vivendi Universal's film and television subsidiary Vivendi Universal Entertainment, after GE had acquired 80% of the subsidiary, giving Vivendi a 20% share of the new company.)
    • General Electric, 2004–2011 (GE acquired 80% of Universal Studios from Vivendi as part of a larger deal that included the acquisition of Vivendi's entertainment assets, forming NBC Universal.)
    • Vivendi, (Vivendi held the remaining 20%, giving Vivendi a 20% share of the new company. with an option to sell its share in 2006.)
  • Comcast/General Electric, 2011–2013 (Comcast acquired 51% of NBC Universal from General Electric. Comcast merged the former GE subsidiary with its own cable-television programming assets, creating the current newly reformed NBCUniversal, by purchasing shares from GE, while GE bought out Vivendi.)
  • Comcast, 2013–present (Comcast bought the remaining 49% of NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion, since 2013, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast, which bought out GE's ownership stake.)

Paramount Pictures

• Independent as Famous Players Film Company, 1912–1916 (founded by Adolph Zukor and W. W. Hodkinson)
• Independent as Famous Players–Lasky, 1916–1921 (founded by Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky)
• Independent, 1922–1968 (as Paramount Pictures, the company adopted its distribution division's name and folded into it in 1933)
• Gulf+Western Industries, 1966–1989 (purchased by Gulf+Western)
  • Paramount Communications, 1989–1995 (Gulf+Western changed the name after selling non-entertainment assets)
• National Amusements, 1994–present (owner of the two iterations of Viacom; the first includes CBS Corporation, the second involving the split; CBS and Viacom would reunite in 2019)
  • Viacom, 1994–2006 (Viacom purchased Paramount)
  • Viacom, 2005–2019 (Viacom split into two companies: "new" Viacom—with Paramount Pictures, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, and other cable channels—and CBS Corporation—which includes CBS Television Studios; both companies are controlled by National Amusements)
  • Paramount Global, 2019–present (re-merger between Viacom and CBS to form ViacomCBS, now known as Paramount Global since 2022)

United Artists (UA)

• Independent, 1919–1967 (founded by Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford; operational control by Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin from 1951; fully purchased by Krim and Benjamin in 1956)
• Transamerica, 1967–1981 (purchased by Transamerica)
• MGM, 1981–2023 (purchased by Kirk Kerkorian from Transamerica and merged into MGM)
  • MGM/UA Entertainment Co., 1981–1986 (United Artists purchased by Kerkorian in 1981 and merged into MGM)
  • Turner Broadcasting System, 1986 (purchased by Ted Turner in 1986)
    • MGM Entertainment Co., 1986
  • MGM/UA Communications Co., 1986–1990 (repurchased by Kerkorian seventy-four days later)
  • MGM-Pathe Communications, 1990–1992 (purchased by Giancarlo Parretti in 1990)
  • Crédit Lyonnais, 1992–1997 (foreclosed upon by bank after Parretti defaulted)
  • Tracinda Corporation, 1997–2005 (repurchased by Kerkorian)
  • MGM Holdings, 2005–2023
    • Sony/Comcast/4 private equity firms, 2005–2010 (purchased by Sony, Comcast, and private investment firms—Providence Equity Partners currently owns the greatest number of shares—and privately held as a minor media company independent of Sony/Columbia)
    • Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, other former bondholders (2011–2022), including Carl Icahn (2011–2012)
    • United Artists was revived in 2019 as United Artists Releasing, the distribution banner. (2019–2023)
    • Amazon, 2022–2023

Warner Bros.

• Independent as Warner Brothers Studio, 1918–1923 (founded by Jack L. Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner, and Sam Warner; was not incorporated until 1923)
• Independent, 1923–1929 (formally incorporated and renamed Warner Bros. Pictures, Incorporated; Sam Warner died in 1927)
  • Warner Bros.–First National, 1929–1967 (acquired First National Pictures; syndicate led by Jack Warner, Serge Semenenko of First National Bank of Boston, and Charles Allen Jr.; purchased a controlling interest in 1956)
  • Warner Bros.–Seven Arts, 1967–1969 (purchased by and merged with Seven Arts Productions)
• Kinney, 1969–1972 (Kinney purchased Warner Bros.–Seven Arts)
  • Warner Communications, 1972–1990 (Kinney spun off non-entertainment assets and changed name)
• Time-Warner, 1990–2001 (on January 10, 1990, in New York City, New York as a merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications)
  • AOL Time Warner, 2001–2003 (AOL merged with Time Warner in 2001)
  • Time Warner, 2003–2018 (AOL Time Warner reverted to their original name in 2003, which remained until AT&T's acquisition in 2018, despite spinning off AOL and Time Inc.)
  • WarnerMedia, 2018–2022 (Time Warner renamed after AT&T acquisition)
    • AT&T, 2018–2022
• Warner Bros. Discovery, 2022–present (AT&T spin-off and merged with Discovery, Inc.)

Columbia Pictures

• Independent as CBC Film Sales, 1918–1924 (founded by Harry Cohn, Joe Brandt, and Jack Cohn)
• Independent, 1924–1968 (company changes name to Columbia Pictures Corporation; goes public in 1926)
• Columbia Pictures Industries, 1968–1987 (merger between Columbia Pictures Corporation and Screen Gems. CPI becomes the parent of both companies)
  • The Coca-Cola Company, 1982–1987 (purchased by Coca-Cola; Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture with HBO and CBS initiated in 1982—CBS drops out in 1985 and HBO in 1986)
• Columbia Pictures Entertainment, 1987–1991 (divested by Coca-Cola; Coke's entertainment business sold to Tri-Star and takes 49% in CPE)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment, 1991–present (Columbia Pictures Entertainment rebrands itself two years after purchase)
  • Sony, 1989–2021 (purchased by Sony Corporation in November 1989)
  • Sony Group Corporation, 2021–present (Sony reorganized)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

• Metro Pictures, 1915–1924 (founded by Richard A. Rowland, George Grombacker, and Louis B. Mayer)
• Goldwyn Pictures, 1916–1924 (founded by Samuel Goldwyn (then Goldfish) and theatre producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn)
• Louis B. Mayer Pictures, 1922–1924 (founded by Louis B. Mayer; brought over Irving Thalberg from Universal as head of production)
• Loew's Inc., 1924–1959 (in 1924, Marcus Loew merged the first two studios and Louis B. Mayer offered up the third and was named head of MGM; controlling interest in Loew's purchased by William Fox in 1929, but was then forced to sell off interest due to stock market crash; operational control ceded by Loew's to studio management in 1957)
• Independent, 1959–1981 (fully divested by Loew's; purchased by Edgar Bronfman Sr. in 1967; purchased by Kirk Kerkorian in 1969)
• MGM/UA Entertainment Co., 1981–1986 (United Artists purchased by Kerkorian in 1981 and merged into MGM)
• Turner Broadcasting System, 1986 (purchased by Ted Turner in 1986)
  • MGM Entertainment Co., 1986
• MGM/UA Communications Co., 1986–1990 (repurchased by Kerkorian seventy-four days later)
• MGM-Pathe Communications, 1990–1992 (purchased by Giancarlo Parretti in 1990)
• Crédit Lyonnais, 1992–1997 (foreclosed upon by bank after Parretti defaulted)
• Tracinda Corporation, 1997–2005 (repurchased by Kerkorian)
• MGM Holdings, 2005–2023
  • Sony/Comcast/4 private equity firms, 2005–2010 (purchased by Sony, Comcast, and private investment firms—Providence Equity Partners currently owns the greatest number of shares—and privately held as a minor media company independent of Sony/Columbia)
  • Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, other former bondholders (2011–2022), including Carl Icahn (2011–2012)
  • Amazon, 2022–present
• Amazon MGM Studios, 2023–present

RKO Radio Pictures/RKO Pictures

• Independent as FBO, 1918–1928 (founded by Harry F. Robertson)
• RCA, 1928–1935 (merger engineered under RCA by its president David Sarnoff, bringing together FBO and Keith-Albee-Orpheum)
• Independent, 1935–1955 (half of RCA's interest purchased by Floyd Odlum, control split between RCA, Odlum, and Rockefeller brothers; controlling interest purchased by Odlum in 1942; controlling interest purchased by Howard Hughes in 1948; Hughes's interest purchased by Stolkin-Koolish-Ryan-Burke-Corwin syndicate in 1952; interest repurchased by Hughes in 1953; studio nearly fully purchased by Hughes in 1954)
• General Tire and Rubber, 1955–1984 (purchased by General Tire and Rubber—coupled with General Tire's broadcasting operation as RKO Teleradio Pictures; production and distribution halted in 1957; movie business dissolved in 1959 and RKO Teleradio renamed RKO General; RKO General establishes RKO Pictures as production subsidiary in 1981)
• GenCorp, 1984–1987 (reorganization creates holding company with RKO General and General Tire as primary subsidiaries)
• Wesray Capital Corporation, 1987–1989 (spun off from RKO General, purchased by Wesray—controlled by William E. Simon and Ray Chambers—and merged with amusement park operations to form RKO/Six Flags Entertainment)
• Independent as RKO Pictures LLC, 1989–present (owned by Ted Hartley, who also is the CEO. As of 2015, the company's recent films released were A Late Quartet and Barely Lethal.)

20th Century Fox/20th Century Studios

• Fox Film, 1915–1935 (founded by William Fox)
• 20th Century Pictures, 1933–1935 (founded by Joseph Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck)
• Independent, 1935–1985 (merged both companies in 1935 as 20th Century-Fox; fully purchased by Marc Rich and Marvin Davis in 1981 with the hyphen removed; Rich's interest purchased by Davis in 1984; half of Davis's interest purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in March 1985)
• News Corporation, 1985–2013 (purchased the remainder of Davis's shares in September)
• 21st Century Fox, 2013–2019 (renamed media conglomerate when News Corporation split into two companies on June 28, 2013)
• The Walt Disney Company, 2019–present (Disney acquired 20th Century Fox as part of a $71.3 billion purchase of their parent company 21st Century Fox, which was announced on December 14, 2017, and completed on March 20, 2019; was renamed 20th Century Studios by January 17, 2020)