Rupert Murdoch gives up BSkyB takeover bid
Patrick Wintour, Dan Sabbagh, and Nicholas Watt for The Guardian:
Rupert Murdoch capitulated to parliament and abandoned News Corporation’s £8bn bid for BSkyB, as he faced the prospect of appearing in front of a judicial public inquiry to salvage his personal reputation and the right for his company to continue to broadcast in the UK.
After 10 days of sustained public outcry over phone hacking, and facing the prospect of a unanimous call by MPs to withdraw his bid for total ownership of the satellite broadcaster, Murdoch succumbed at a morning board meeting at his London HQ in Wapping.
Company insiders indicated Murdoch was not making a tactical retreat and that a future bid for total control of BSkyB was now unlikely. The media giant said it was likely to “deploy our capital elsewhere” to avoid any more damaging battles in the UK. The News Corp deputy chairman, Chase Carey, said the bid had become “too difficult to progress in this climate”.
People had been speculating that the shuttering of the News of the World was a move designed to help the British Sky Broadcasting deal go through, so if that was really the case, it appears it didn’t work.