The media giant 21st Century Fox, the empire run by Rupert Murdoch, made an $80 billion takeover bid (around $86.00) in recent weeks for Time Warner Inc. but was rebuffed, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. As WSJ reports, [10] The offer was first made orally in June and then with a formal letter in July. Time Warner rejected the offer curtly, after Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes took the proposal to the board. The deal - which valued Time Warner at 12.6x LTM EBITDA - was notably above even recent record high LBO multiples (and would be financed by none other than Goldman) [11]. Of course, this deal - should it ever be consummated (as the stock price suggests) would give Murdoch control of both the left and the right propoganda with CNN and Fox.
21st Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA, FOX) today issued the following statement confirming press reports that it made a proposal to combine with Time Warner Inc.:
“21st Century Fox can confirm that we made a formal proposal to Time Warner last month to combine the two companies. The Time Warner Board of Directors declined to pursue our proposal. We are not currently in any discussions with Time Warner."
As WSJ reports [10]
Time Warner rejected an offer made by 21st Century Fox Inc. that valued the owner of cable channels CNN and HBO at $85 a share.
The offer was first made orally in June and then with a formal letter in July. Time Warner rejected the offer curtly, after Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes took the proposal to the board. Since then, Time Warner has been unwilling to engage with Fox, according to people familiar with the situation.
Fox has suggested that synergies of a combination could be worth more than a billion dollars, but it wanted to have discussions to fully ascertain value of those savings and Time Warner hasn't been willing to talk, one of the people said.
The deal values Time Warner at 12.6 times the company's past 12 months of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a person said. It would be financed by Goldman Sachs and additional banks, the person said.
[12]
As NY Times reports, [13]
Together, 21st Century Fox and Time Warner would become a colossus with an array of television networks and channels like Fox, Fox News, FX, TNT and TBS; the premium subscription channel HBO, movie studios like 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and other prominent outlets. It would also combine Fox’s growing sports business with the broadcast rights that Time Warner owns for professional and college basketball and Major League Baseball, among other sports.
The combined company would have total revenue of $65 billion.
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It seems the ownershiup of both the left and the right was too much for the deal to handle...
As part of the proposal to buy Time Warner, people briefed on the proposal said, 21st Century Fox indicated that it would sell CNN to head off potential antitrust concerns since Fox News competes directly with CNN.
