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21st Century Fox Ends Time Warner Bid

21st Century Fox on Tuesday formally withdrew its offer to acquire Time Warner Inc., parent of Warner Bros. Entertainment in Burbank. The bid was withdrawn after management and the board of Time Warner refused to discuss the unsolicited bid that valued the New York media and entertainment company at $80 billion, Fox said in a release. Fox Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch stated that since the offer became public Time Warner stock has risen to the point that Fox would have to raise its offer price, making the acquisition unattractive to Fox shareholders. “These factors, coupled with our commitment to be both disciplined in our approach to the combination and focused on delivering value for the Fox shareholders, has led us to withdraw our offer,” Murdoch said in a prepared statement. Fox had offered 1.531 of 21st Century Fox common shares and $32.42 in cash for each Time Warner share. The Time Warner board immediately turned down the offer confident the company’s portfolio of networks and its film studio and television production business could grow organically and doubting the ability of 21st Century Fox to manage the combined company. Shares of Time Warner were at $83.13 when the Fox offer became public and rose to as high $87.36 before dropping. They closed on Tuesday at $85.19 on the New York Stock Exchange. San Fernando Valley operations of Time Warner include Warner Bros. Entertainment and Studio in Burbank, the headquarters for the filmed entertainment, home entertainment, interactive, consumer products and DC Entertainment divisions; and Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System of Time Warner. 21st Century Fox was created in 2013 after being spun off from Murdoch’s News Corp. The company operates the 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and Studio, in Los Angeles, the Fox Television network, and other global media assets.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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