21st Century Fox to buy Sky

RUPERT Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox said it had agreed to buy Britain’s Sky in a deal valuing the pay-TV group at $32.5 billion (R437bn), trumping a rival offer from US group Comcast. The battle for Britain’s leading pay-TV group reflects major shifts in the global entertainment industry as the world’s biggest media giants battle each other for multibillion-dollar deals to be able to compete with Netflix and Amazon. Fox, which owns 39 percent of Sky and is due to gain British regulatory clearance for the deal this week, upped its offer to £14 per share, from its earlier £10.75 per share. The agreed price represents an 82 percent premium to Sky’s shares in December 2016, before it struck its original deal to buy Sky. – Reuters