A leading UK competition lawyer has suggested that a takeover of Formula One by News Corporation would face “concerns” because of a conflict of interest. Paul Stone, head of competition and regulation for law firm Charles Russell says that “News Corporation’s involvement in the bid for Formula One could attract scrutiny from the competition regulators, […]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has boosted its stake in Arabic music-to-films broadcaster Rotana Media Group. A year ago, News Corp bought nine per cent of Rotana, which is owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed, and with that purchase struck a deal which gave News Corp an option to double its stake within 18 months. News […]
Deficom Telecom a consortium of investment companies, allied with the UK’s private-equity house Apax, have entered into negotiations to acquire Numericable networks in Belgium and Luxembourg. The cable operator has doubled its revenues and increased its operating income fivefold since 2003 thanks to the success of triple-play services. It is the main player in the […]
Technology licensing company Rambus Inc has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held semiconductor security R&D and licensing company Cryptography Research, Inc (CRI) for an aggregate of $342.5 million comprised of $167.5 million in cash, approximately 6.4 million shares of Rambus stock, and $50 million payable to CRI employees in cash or stock over three […]
Microsoft has confirmed a deal to buy internet phone service Skype for $8.5 billion, making it Microsoft’s largest acquisition. Skype, based in Luxembourg, has 663 million users. Skype dropped a planned IPO last summer after it was sold to investors by eBay which had sold 70 per cent for $2 billion. eBay had paid $2.6 […]
A major delay has hit Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of BSkyB, with official approval unlikely for another two weeks, according to UK media reports. “My understanding is that there will be a minimum two-week delay from now,” said Claire Enders, founder of Enders Analysis. “At every stage the level of detail required and the input from […]
Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has warned Grand Prix teams that it would be “suicidal” for them if the sport moved to News Corporation’s subscription channels as part of a takeover deal. According to Ecclestone, who holds the sport’s commercial rights, teams would lose huge sponsorship interest if coverage was no longer on mass […]
Chase Carey, News Corp’s COO, told analysts on its Q3 results conference call that BSkyB’s current price was “unrealistic” and “clearly troubling” and was simply too high for News Corp to consider. “There seems to be an unrealistically rosy view of the challenges Sky must now navigate going forward,” he said, listing pressures from rival […]
Global information management solutions provider SDL is buying Netherlands-headquartered Calamares, an internationally recognised cloud-based platform that allows enterprises to centrally compose, enrich, publish and distribute video and other rich-media assets. Calamares supports all media platforms, systems and devices – from the Web and mobile to Internet Protocol television (IPTV) and social media platforms. The gross […]
Formula 1 owners CVC Capital confirmed a ‘friendly approach’ from News Corp (reported on ATV on April 20th) was joined by Italian investment company EXOR, controlled by the Agnelli family – once main owners of Fiat – and where the CEO is John Elkann, chairman of Fiat. Fiat owns Ferrari, F1’s most successful team. It […]