Rupert Murdoch’s £11.7B ($14.5B) bid to "take full control of Sky has been cleared by the European competition regulator," according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. The European commission, which has been investigating 21st Century Fox’s takeover bid since early March, has given the deal "unconditional approval." The commission said, "Based on the results of its market investigation, the Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns. Fox and Sky are mainly active in different markets in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the UK. They compete with each other only to a limited extent, mainly in the acquisition of TV content and in the wholesale supply of basic pay-TV channels." The ruling -- which was expected given the commission also cleared Murdoch’s "ill-fated" '10 bid -- does not affect the investigation being conducted by Ofcom in the U.K. Critics, such as former Labour leader Ed Miliband, argued that the Murdoch empire has not been reformed since the phone hacking scandal and has a record of "persistent disregard for the law and regulatory control" (GUARDIAN, 4/7).
'FIT AND PROPER': The BBC reported part of Ofcom's investigation will include whether Sky's potential new owners are "fit and proper." Murdoch and his son, Lachlan Murdoch, are joint chairs of 21st Century Fox and News Corp., while his other son, James Murdoch, is CEO of Fox. Labour "raised objections to the takeover" and urged PM Theresa May to "keep her promise of standing up to powerful interest groups." Labour MP David Winnick said that it would be "simply unacceptable that the amount of media ownership [Rupert Murdoch] already controls should be increased." Fox "welcomed" the commission's decision, by saying, "We now look forward to continuing to work with U.K. authorities and are confident that the proposed transaction will be approved following a thorough review process" (BBC, 4/7). REUTERS' Chee & Sandle reported analysts had "not expected the EU to block the takeover." Ofcom will "advise on whether the deal would give Murdoch and his companies too much control of Britain's media, and whether the new owner would be committed to upholding broadcasting standards" (REUTERS, 4/7). BLOOMBERG's White & Bodoni reported the probe "could be swayed by new allegations" reported by the N.Y. Times on April 1, which said that five women received payments totaling about $13M from either Fox or TV host Bill O’Reilly "in exchange for agreeing not to sue or talk about their accusations against him." Sky's stock has fallen 3.2% in the last month and currently trades at a 10% discount to Fox's offer price (BLOOMBERG, 4/7).
