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Merger moves from Murdoch clan
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and his son James have hogged the headlines largely due to their success in winning the battle to buy the iconic Wall Street Journal.
Murdoch is buying US media giant Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, with News Corporation securing the deal for £2.7 billion or US$60 (£29.70) a share, a 65 per cent premium to the pre-deal Dow Jones’ share price.
Murdoch finally received the required level of support from the Bancroft family who hold the majority of Dow Jones shares, ending the family’s 100-year stewardship of the company. The offer succeeded because only half of the family (owning 64 per cent in total) needed to support the bid. Family members were divided over fears Murdoch would interfere with the editorial independence of the Wall Street Journal.
News Corporation, part owner of BSkyB, already owns 100 other newspapers worldwide, alongside TV stations and film studios. In a busy week for the family, James, the corporation’s chief executive struck a deal for BSkyB to buy The Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar’s Amstrad for £125 million.
The TV set-top boxmaker, founded by Sugar, supplies 30 per cent of Sky’s set-top box devices and the deal, which will see Sugar stay with the business, should help Sky save money by designing products in-house and becoming more innovative. Amstrad soared on the news, while the valuation of rival set-top boxmaker Pace Micro Technology headed south.
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