- TV producer Ryan Murphy will leave Fox for Netflix, in a deal worth a reported $300 million.
- Money wasn't the only factor, as Murphy is a huge fan of Netflix, according to Fox television group's co-CEO Dana Walden.
Ryan Murphy, the superstar producer who launched shows like "Glee," "American Horror Story," and "Nip/Tuck," jumped from Fox to Netflix in a five-year deal worth as much as $300 million, according to The New York Times.
But it might not be just about the money.
According to Dana Walden, the co-CEO of the Fox television group, and the godmother of Murphy's children, Murphy is obsessed with Netflix.
“All Ryan has watched for the last year has been Netflix,” Walden told The New York Times. “He loves their Y.A. series, he loves their documentaries, he watched ‘The OA’ and loved it, he loved ‘13 Reasons Why,’ he admires the brand, the programming. It was the right timing and right company for him.”
Walden and Fox are certainly sad to see Murphy go, but his departure seemed imminent once Disney agreed to buy 21st Century Fox's film studio and a large chunk of its television production assets for $52.4 billion in December.
In January, Murphy shared that when he heard about the Disney deal, he said he was worried and wondered, "Am I going to have to put Mickey Mouse in 'American Horror Story?'" He said he was "very emotional" about the deal, though Disney CEO Bob Iger tried to reassure him.
“Were the Disney deal to have never happened, I think he would have been close to a new deal with us,” Walden told The New York Times. “If the Disney move happened a year ago, and the transaction was completed by now and we were part of the Disney Company, I think he would be part of us.”
Murphy isn't the first TV giant Netflix has landed in recent months. The streaming company lured Shonda Rhimes away from ABC this summer in a deal worth a reported $100 million.
