Comcast launches 22bn rival bid for sky

Comcast has gatecrashed Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of Sky with a rival £22bn offer, sparking a bidding war for Britain’s biggest pay-TV broadcaster. The media and telecoms company, which owns NBC Universal and is the largest cable operator in the US, has made an all-cash offer of £12.50 a share, a 16% premium on the offer from Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, which values Sky at about £19bn.

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Hedge funds build 13% stake in Sky

Hedge funds now control around £3bn of Sky shares, giving them major influence over the future of the British broadcaster as it is targeted for takeover by two rivals. The Mail can reveal that hedge funds based in Mayfair, New York and Chicago now own 13 per cent of Sky’s stock as it is embroiled in bids from 21st Century Fox and US cable giant Comcast

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Comcast bids US$30.9bn for Sky

Comcast offered £12.50 for each Sky share in cash, which it said marks a premium of 16 per cent on Fox’s current offer to buy the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own. Shares in Sky rose more than 18 per cent at the market open to 1,305.5p.

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Will Apple Buy Netflix? Citi Analysts Put Odds At 40%

Analysts for Citigroup wrote in a research note they believe there’s a 40% chance Apple will buy Netflix with the money it repatriates following the passage of corporate tax reform.

Apple could potentially repatriate hundreds of billions of dollars, giving it plenty of wiggle room for a major acquisition like Netflix.

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Disney close to $60bn deal to take over Fox assets

According to the FT: Walt Disney is closing in on the entertainment assets of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox in an all-share deal that stands to reshape Hollywood and the rapidly digitising global media industry. The deal, valuing the Fox assets at about $60bn including debt, could be announced as early as Thursday, according to people briefed on the negotiations.

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Comcast reportedly targeting 21st Century Fox for acquisition

Cable and media giant Comcast has reportedly approached 21st Century Fox about a possible acquisition, a move that comes after Disney was also reported to be circling Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. 21st Century Fox’s share price shot up in after-hours trading following the news on Thursday, first reported by CNBC. It is unclear whether the cablecompany is exploring a purchase of all or part of Fox, which owns Hollywood studios 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight as well as the Fox news and sports channels.

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CBS to purchase Network Ten in Australia

The Receivers and Managers (Christopher Hill, Phil Carter and David McEvoy of PPB Advisory) and the Voluntary Administrators (Mark Korda, Jarrod Villani and Jenny Nettleton of KordaMentha Restructuring) of Ten Network Holdings Limited have announced that wholly owned entities of the New York Stock Exchange-listed CBS Corporation have entered into a binding transaction document to acquire the business and assets of Network Ten.

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