Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger will likely stay on past his 2019 retirement date if the entertainment company wins its bid to buy the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox Inc., according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Representatives of 21st Century Fox and its executive chairman, Rupert Murdoch, requested as part of the potential sale that Mr. Iger stay on past his planned July 2019 retirement to assist with the integration of assets, valued today at $40 billion, and strategic repositioning of the combined businesses, according to some of these people.

A deal could be announced as soon as late next week, people with knowledge of the talks said.

Fox and News Corp, the parent of The Wall Street Journal, share common ownership.

If the deal goes through, it likely wouldn’t close until late 2018. Disney would then spend much of 2019 integrating the two companies’ assets, including cable-television networks, international TV distributors and a film and television studio.

Disney’s aim is to use all those assets to transform itself into a powerhouse in the online, direct-to-consumer media business capable of taking on rivals like Netflix Inc. Mr. Iger has staked his legacy as CEO on leading that transformation.


Mr. Iger has previously announced four different retirement dates during his 12-year tenure: In 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

After the company announced a one-year extension of his contract last March, the 66-year-old Mr. Iger said of his plans to retire, “I’m serious this time around.”

Since then, Disney’s board has given no public signals that it has zeroed in on potential successors.

The Disney-Fox deal isn’t guaranteed to go through, and if it doesn’t, Mr. Iger could proceed with his current retirement plan. Comcast Corp. is also pursuing Fox assets, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

People close to the company had speculated Mr. Iger, a Democrat, could run for political office after retiring, as he has recently been outspoken on political issues including climate change and immigration. At an October business conference, Mr. Iger commented on the then-recent mass killing in Las Vegas, saying, “We should be demanding a dialogue about this from our politicians and demand some productive action to stop these things from happening.”


Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com