Mubasher: 21st Century Fox raised its bid for UK television group Sky valuing the London pay-TV company at $32.5 billion, seeing off its rival Comcast’s offer.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s company offered to pay GBP 14 ($18.46) per share, a 12% premium over Comcast’s offer, but lower than Sky share trading price at GBP 14.80 on Wednesday.
The offer, which was accepted by shareholders, came just two days before the deadline set by the UK government for Comcast to reach a final deal.
In February, the Philadelphia-headquartered company tried to poach Sky with a $31 billion offer, formally made in April, which was substantially higher than Fox’s original bid.
Meanwhile, analysts said that the offer is meant to challenge Comcast, prompting the world’s largest entertainment company to return with a higher offer.
The battle over the popular satellite television service is part of a broader rivalry among the world’s media giants to offer tens of billions in deals to compete with Netflix and Amazon.
Comcast and Walt Disney were in a separate $70 billion-plus battle to purchase most of Fox’s assets, including Sky.
Fox, which already owns 39% in the pan-European group Sky, has been trying to purchase the remaining 61% since December 2016, before Murdoch envisioned selling his company.
