21st Century Fox on Thursday said it had reached a deal to take full control of European pay-TV giant Sky. Fox will pay about $14.8 billion — or $13.41 per share — to acquire the remaining 61% of Sky that it doesn’t already own, valuing the company at more than $23 billion. Sky serves 22 million pay-TV customers in Austria, Britain, Germany, Ireland and Italy.
RELATED: 21st Century Fox Makes Offer to Acquire Rest of Sky
Fox — which is led by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan — tried to acquire Sky, then known as BSkyB, five years ago but was thwarted after a phone-hacking scandal erupted in Great Britain. Members of the royal family and private citizens discovered they had been hacked after stories no one but them knew appeared in newspapers owned by what was then News Corp., which has since been split off from 21st Century Fox into a separate company.
Once the companies provide formal notice of the deal to British authorities, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Karen Bradley, has 10 days to decide whether the deal raises public interest concerns. If Bradley determines that it does, the deal then moves to broadcast and communications regulator, Ofcom, for review. Antitrust regulators for the European Union also are expected to review the deal.
James Murdoch said in a call to analysts on Thursday morning that he thinks the deal will pass regulatory muster.
“We do think that this passes regulatory muster,” he said. “We think as the relevant authorities look at the fact set around both the competition and potential U.K. intervention issues that no meaningful concessions will need to be made.”
READ MORE: The New York Times, Variety
[Image of Rupert Murdoch courtesy of Variety]
Tags: