Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox Inc said on Wednesday it had offered to buy Time Warner Inc, a move that would unite two of the world's most powerful media conglomerates, but Time Warner rebuffed its offer.
Published : 16 Jul 2014, 09:54 PM
Time Warner's stock jumped 17.3 percent to $83.33 on the New York Stock Exchange after news that Murdoch had his sights on Time Warner, the owner of the Warner Bros. movie studio and cable channels such as HBO and CNN, among other media properties.
Murdoch's cash-and-stock bid was worth about $80 billion, or $85 per share, people familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Wednesday. The offer, first reported by The New York Times, consisted of 60 percent in stock and the rest in cash.
Twenty-First Century Fox later confirmed it had made a formal takeover proposal in June but said there were no talks currently under way.
Even so, Murdoch and his advisers are unlikely to abandon his ambition to put Time Warner in his empire so easily, one of the people said, pointing out that he has the "disciplined determination" to get a deal done.
Fox's overtures to Time Warner could accelerate a wave of consolidation that is already reshaping the US media landscape.
Reuters reported this month that Murdoch was in the midst of a deal that would give Fox the firepower to buy a content company.