Murdoch withdraws Sky News offer
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp vowed to fight on in its battle for BSkyB today amid further falls for the satellite broadcaster’s shares.
The company has withdrawn its offer to hive off Sky News as a separate company as part of its approach for BSkyB and said it was now ready to engage with the Competition Commission instead.
Shares fell 6% after Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he is seeking fresh advice from Ofcom over whether to refer the bid to the Commission.
As analysts warned the bid was looking increasingly likely to fail, News Corp said it continued to believe its proposal will not lead to “insufficient plurality in news provision”.
