Rupert Murdoch withdraws from proposed Fox-News Corp merger; details here

The proposal for re-combining Fox Corp and News Corp has been withdrawn by Rupert Murdoch. The companies had been split up by Murdoch in 2013. The Murdoch family trust controls around 40 percent of the voting rights of both the firms. Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, notified the employees on Tuesday that the decision to call off the proposed deal will not have any impact on employees, according to a memo reviewed by CNBC. The withdrawn proposal comes amid the advanced discussions by News Corp to sell its stake in Move Inc. (the parent company of Realtor.com) to commercial real estate company CoStar Group. News Corp said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday, “Any potential transaction would support News Corp’s strategy to optimise the value of its Digital Real Estate Services segment, while strengthening Realtor.com’s competitive position in the market.” News Corp further stated that there was no guarantee that the talks would result in a transaction. Shareholders had opposed the potential merger in recent months. Some, such as Independent Franchise Partners, which is among the largest shareholders in both News Corp and Fox, believed that merger would not have realised the full potential value of News Corp. According to the London-based firm, other alternatives like the breakup of News Corp should have been taken into account. Another shareholder that opposed the proposed merger was Irenic Capital Management. According to the investment management company, Fox didn’t serve the strategic goals of News Corp. According to a CoStar Group spokesperson, the company keeps evaluating mergers and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities continuously across a wide range of companies in order to maximise shareholder value. News Corp bought 80 percent stake in Move in 2014. REA Limited Group, an Australia-based real estate business, acquired the remaining 20 percent stake in the company. News Corp holds a 61.6 percent interest in REA. Along with Wall Street Journal Publisher Dow Jones, News Corp also owns assets like the New York Post and HarperCollins. News Corp had started as a small newspaper in Australia in the 1920s. Now, it has grown to contain some of the world’s most iconic brands in media and information. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.