Murdoch Wait Goes On as U.K. Pushes Back Fox-Sky Review
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Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox must wait for further progress on its bid to buy Sky after the U.K. government said it needed more time to weigh its next move.
The U.K. will decide in coming weeks whether to send the 11.7 billion pound ($15.2 billion) bid for a six-month regulatory review, Culture Minister Karen Bradley told lawmakers Thursday in Parliament. Bradley said she may announce her decision during the body’s summer recess, which starts Thursday and ends in early September, breaking with tradition to expedite the process.
The possibility of an announcement during the break drew protests from opposition politicians, highlighting the pressure being brought on Bradley, a member of the ruling Conservative Party, by the Murdochs and their detractors. Bradley said she was still inclined to refer the deal to the Competition and Markets Authority for an investigation into the Murdoch family’s media influence, and left open the chance of a wider probe revisiting their past corporate-governance failings.
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