Rupert Murdoch calls off proposed Fox-News Corp merger

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Rupert Murdoch has withdrawn the proposal to re-combine Fox Corp and News Corp. Fox said Tuesday its board received a letter from Murdoch, its chairman, and his son and Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch that “determined that a combination is not optimal for the shareholders” of either of the companies at the time.

The potential merger had faced opposition from shareholders in recent months, who didn’t believe a merger would show the true value of News Corp. if it merged with Fox. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson told employees Tuesday the decision to call off the proposed deal would have no impact on employees, according to a memo reviewed by CNBC.

“As I advised at the beginning of this process, it is best not to speculate on speculation, and so if you do hear from any media, shareholders, customers or others, please alert the communications team in your business,” Thomson wrote. In October, the companies said they had formed a special committee to consider the deal.

A combination of the two companies would have unified leadership in Murdoch’s empire and cut costs at a time when the audience is shrinking for both print and TV media. News Corp owns Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones. Fox, with what was left over from the $71.3 billion Twenty-First Century Fox sale to Disney in 2019, owns right-wing networks Fox News and Fox Business, which is a CNBC competitor.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/24/rupert-murdoch-calls-off-proposed-fox-news-corp-merger.html

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Article updated.

Previous articles -

Rupert Murdoch has withdrawn the proposal to re-combine Fox Corp and News Corp. Fox said Tuesdayits board received a letter fromMurdoch, its chairman, and his son Lachlan Murdochthat "determined that a combination is not optimal for the shareholders" of either of the companies at the time.

The potential merger had faced opposition from shareholders in recent months, who didn't believe a merger would show the true value of News Corp. if it merged with Fox. A Fox spokesman didn't immediately respond to comment. In October, the companies said they had formed a special committee to consider the deal.

A combination of the two companies would have unified leadership in Murdoch's empire and cut costs. News Corp. owns Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones. Fox, with what was left over from the $71.3 billion Twenty-First Century Fox sale to Disney in 2019, owns right wing networks Fox News and Fox Business, which is a CNBC competitor.


This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

Rupert Murdoch has withdrawn the proposal to re-combine Fox Corp and News Corp.

On Tuesday, Fox said its board received a letter from its chairman, and his son, Lachlan Murdoch, that "determined that a combination is not optimal for the shareholders" of either of the companies at the time.

The potential merger had faced opposition from shareholders in recent months, who didn't believe a merger would show the true value of News Corp. if it merged with Fox.

A Fox spokesman didn't immediately respond to comment.


This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

Original article -

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

Me --

(didn't know there was proposal to what I am guessing would have been a recombination after a break-up and restructuring of the whole thing - i.e., the studio, the publishing, the broadcast conglomerate, etc., years ago - will find out shortly)

[moniss]

1. Leave one with the debts from lawsuits

and keep the other as the piggy bank. The crooked Rupert way.

[GB_RN]

3. This

He knows he's going to get hit with massive penalties from the defamation suits, so if he has to lose a network, let it be Spews Corp/Faux Nuz rather than a combined entity.

[TheRealNorth]

5. I would think the lawyers at Dominon would stop any attempt to split off the assets....

With an injunction, or make it explicit that any judgements against the "News" side would have to also paid out from the entertainment side if the "news" side gets bankrupted.

[GB_RN]

8. Well...

That would probably work. However, because Spews Corp and Fox Entertainment are separate entities...and going to stay that way...I don't know that they could ever collect from Fox Entertainment.

Ending the re-integration of the two was, IMO, likely to prevent a huge loss in profits and stock price of the newly combined Fox, from any adverse judgements in the defamation case(s). Smart move by Murdoch, but I'd rather see his ass bankrupted and begging for money on a street corner for all the damage he's done to liberal democracy in the US, UK and AU. Fuck him.

[TheRealNorth]

10. That makes sense

I think I misread the article.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Thank you and moniss for THAT reminder

The $1.6 billion Dominion Systems lawsuit and the $2.7 billion Smartmatic case that was allowed to proceed this past March.

[exboyfil]

2. Murdoch is still rolling in all that fat Disney cash

he got selling off the 20th Century Fox movie studio portion of Fox. He is an a__hole, but he made out like a bandit on that one as Disney paid twice what Fox was worth.

On the other hand if he did retain those shares, he got to ride them down to the tune of almost 50% loss.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Ahh...

I know over the past 20-some years, he was re-configuring and selling off pieces and whatnot. It was the same sort of thing that Viacom/CBS was doing over a number of years, like an undulating mass of pieces of businesses.

Forgot that the studio (20th/21st Century Fox) with the whole Star Wars franchise, went to Disney.

Thank you for that reminder.

[Joinfortmill]

7. Fox Corp may soon be deader than a doornail.

[turbinetree]

9. Maybe the deposition shall we say didn't quite go well.....

just a maybe.......

[FakeNoose]

11. They probably wanted to merge them so they could lay people off

That's what usually happens after a merger. What does this mean ... "not optimal for shareholders"?

As long as the corporation makes a profit, the shareholders are usually happy. It's hard to believe they'd be against this. As usual, the Murdochs are trying to pull a fast one on somebody, we just don't know who.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I think despite what the "public" commentary from him is saying

he was probably trying to do what Alex Jones has been attempting to do with respect to the Sandy Hook judgements - shield from incoming, multi-billion $ civil suits. I think if need be, it would be easier to sell off smaller, "less valuable" pieces to use that in in a potential "settlement" fund. I doubt that they wouldn't pursue a "no admission of guilt/not our fault" monetary agreement with Dominion and Smartmatic, and having an easier path to liquidity to do that, is the best course of action.

[ratchiweenie]

12. Was the re-merger proposed before the huge lawsuits looked so viable?

[BumRushDaShow]

14. That's why bunny me

was doing the pancake on my head trick.

I had no idea that this was even in the cards after all the hoops they jumped through to separate things out!

Trying to do a back-of-envelope timeline -

2005 - Murdoch buys the rest of Fox from shareholders

2013 - News Corp. splits into two (Entertainment and Publishing)

2017 - 2019 - News Corp. sells off some stuff

For Disney, this means a trove of new assets, 20th Century Fox film and TV studios, an additional 30% stake in Hulu, cable channels FX and National Geographic, and Indian media conglomerate Star India. For Fox, it means a new company, Fox Corporation, which includes Fox News channel and Fox’s broadcast network.

and

he is giving up the Fox film and TV studios responsible for the box-office blockbusters Titanic and Avatar as well as hits such as The Simpsons, cable channels including FX and National Geographic, a 39% Sky stake and India’s Star network.

2022 (October) - Float of merging entities

The merger would combine Murdoch’s Fox News and TMZ assets with News Corp’s newspaper and online news operations, including the Times and the Sun in the UK, the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the US, and the Australian.

So this latest business idea was put out there AFTER the Dominion/Smartmatic suits but would have been "in the news" right in the heart of the 2022 election here, conveniently drowned out by the RW noise machine's "Democrats in Disarray®", "Red Tsunami®", "Libs to be shellacked" narratives.

[ratchiweenie]

15. Thanks for the timeline. This is truly confounding. Wish they had already merged and some major

suits could take them all out.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. You're welcome and I wouldn't rule out Disney/ABC

with their eye on that ball (since they already now own some of the previous Fox entertainment pieces). Alternately there is Comcast/NBC Universal and Viacom/CBS.

I have watched almost 30 years of those companies operating like undulating masses - consolidating/breaking up/consolidating/exchanging pieces.

[republianmushroom]

17. like it