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RUPERT MURDOCH’S CONGLOMERATE has said that it made an unsuccessful bid for rival Time Warner which could shake up the media-entertainment world.
The bid by 21st Century Fox, which would merge two of the world’s biggest media-entertainment empires if allowed to proceed, was for $80 billion.
A statement from 21st Century Fox, said it “made a formal proposal to Time Warner last month to combine the two companies.”
The source said that despite the rejection, Murdoch still wants a deal.
“He is determined to buy Time Warner,” the source said.
The statement from 21st Century Fox, which came after a New York Times report about the offer, said the Time Warner board of directors “declined to pursue our proposal,” and added that “we are not currently in any discussions with Time Warner.”
The source familiar with the talks told AFP that Murdoch’s group wanted to buy Time Warner and then spin off CNN, which is the cable news rival to his Fox News Channel.
Time Warner meanwhile issued a separate statement confirming that it received, and rejected, an offer of stock and cash from 21st Century Fox.
The statement said the Time Warner board “determined that it was not in the best interests of Time Warner or its stockholders to accept the proposal or to pursue any discussions” with Murdoch’s firm.
“The board is confident that continuing to execute its strategic plan will create significantly more value for the company and its stockholders and is superior to any proposal that Twenty-First Century Fox is in a position to offer,” the statement said.
The move comes amid a shifting media landscape after both conglomerates spun off their slow-growing publishing operations and established companies focusing on film, television and other high-growth segments.
Murdoch last year broke up his media empire into two firms — 21st Century Fox and News Corp, which operates The Wall Street Journal, and newspapers in Britain and Australia.
Time Warner this year spun off its magazine unit Time Inc., which publishes its flagship news weekly and other titles including Sports Illustrated and People.
The deal between the two giants would combine the storied Hollywood studios of Time Warner and 20th Century Fox, and include Time Warner’s big cable channels such as HBO and TBS that would join Murdoch’s Fox sports, news and entertainment channels.
Some analysts said HBO is the main driver of the plan, because the premium pay-TV channel offers a way to compete against the successful streaming video firm Netflix.
“HBO is the crown jewel asset, but imagine now you have to figure how to program TBS, TNT, Cartoon, CNN, etc,” said Richard Greenfield at BTIG Research. “Not to mention that a merger of that size would face integration and regulatory challenges.”
This man controls too much media as it is, this would be a very bad move
Money cant buy you love.
Unless things have changed in the past year, globally the media is owned by seven different companies called the ‘Big 6′. Its called that since Rupert Murdoch’s empire is not included!
Right wing propaganda media …
That’s a filthy amount of money.
Rupert Murdoch achieving this purchase is effectively Fox News taking out CNN !
So USA becomes even more controlled on the Newswires by extreme Rightwing propaganda and lies .
Where one sees Murdoch , Democracy & free thinking always suffers !
I’m not sure Fox News could ever convert anyone to their cause. They just throw red meat to the idiot conservatives that take them seriously. They may however provide more fiction than HBO.
Fox News is the best Parody News Channel on TV.
Control the news, control it’s listeners..
Some drive for a man who is nearly in the grave fair play.
He’s an elitist they have secret life extension technology eat better food and drink non fluoridated clean water…. What you think he shops in tesco.
It’s the non-fluoridation of the water that keeps him going? That’s some theory!
Technically you would be healthier and live longer without fluoride in your diet.
Technically…
I am tired of this neo-conservative Murdoch empire. More greed and more greed. He a man with old balls who thinks he lives forever …
It seems as though Americans have become so scared of being controlled by the government they have gone in the complete opposite direction to the point that they are becoming controlled by company’s.
Its 3 hours long but worth watching.
Orwell Rolls In His Grave – The One Thing The Med…: http://youtu.be/rOygpfEl7nE
Given the amount of market share Murdoch already has in the states, I doubt the regulators would let the deal go through. I suspect 21st CF is after the content from HBO and ABC, Game of Thrones and so on
have your say