MUMBAI: News Corp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has sold his entire Class A non-voting shares to retain his voting stake in the company.

As per regulatory filings, Murdoch sold 418,631 shares on 20 November for more than $10 million at $23.87 to $24.01 per share.

The sale was for estate-planning purposes, reported Bloomberg quoting a source.

The Murdoch family holds 12 per cent but its dual class shareholding structure gives it 40 per cent of the voting power.

It needs to be noted that Murdoch was facing stiff opposition from News Corp shareholders, some of who had proposed sweeping changes to make the management more accountable particularly in the wake of phone hacking scandal in the company?s UK publishing unit.

The investors had also criticised the dual-class structure during the annual general meeting which gives Murdoch family undue power to take their agenda forward.

The company?s Class A shares fell less than 1 percent to $23.82 at the close in New York.

MUMBAI: Rupert-Murdoch controlled News Corporation is gearing up to give ESPN a fight in the US. The company has acquired 49 per cent stake in Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (Yes), the cable network channel owned by baseball team New York Yankees and its partners.

The Yes Network delivers exclusive live local television coverage of New York Yankees baseball and Brooklyn Nets basketball, as well as other leading local and national sports-related programming. The Yes Network also announced a media rights agreement that will keep Yankees baseball on the Yes Network through 2042.

The media rights agreement is subject to Major League Baseball approval. The investment is expected to close by the end of the calendar year.

Following the stake acquisition, News Corp-owned Fox Sports Media Group will negotiate distribution deals with the operators on behalf of Yes Network as part of a larger package of sports channels which would allow Yes to raise the subscriber fee. However, Fox sports channels will not manage the channel nor will provide local or national sports programming to Yes.

The current owners - Yankee Global Enterprises, Goldman Sachs and other investors - will reduce their ownership in connection with this transaction. After three years, News Corporation may acquire an additional stake in the Yes Network that could bring its ownership to 80 per cent, at which time Yankee Global Enterprises would retain a significant minority stake in the network.

Since its inception in 2002, Yes has grown its footprint to include local availability in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and parts of Pennsylvania, as well as national availability on several cable and satellite television distributors. The network currently showcases live Yankees and Nets games to approximately 9 million households in the teams? television territory in the New York area. Outside of the New York area, the Yes Network also distributes a variety of national programming to millions of homes across the country.

"We?ve long been a believer in the unique appeal of sports entertainment. Partnering upstream with rights holders is even more important today in the dynamic media marketplace in which we compete. This is a tremendous opportunity to enhance News Corporation?s industry-leading portfolio of sports properties, while also strategically re-entering the New York market," said News Corporation Deputy COO James Murdoch.

"The Yes Network represents the gold standard for regional sports networks and is a pioneer in sports media. We look forward to working with Yankee Global Enterprises, the network?s management team, and all of our partners to build on a decade of success and take the YES Network to even greater heights."

Yankee Global Enterprises Chairman Hal Steinbrenner said, "This transaction underscores the great value we and our partners created in establishing the Yes Network and sets the network on the path for even greater achievements in the future. We are excited to have News Corporation as a partner. Its stature and acumen in sports broadcasting on a global scale is unmatched. We look forward to the many opportunities for growth and development that this investment by News Corporation will bring to Yes. The Steinbrenner family expects to have a continuing, long-term ownership stake in the Yes Network and we will continue our yearly commitment of fielding a championship caliber team for decades to come."

MUMBAI: News Corp is believed to have concluded the deal for acquisition of 49 per cent stake in cable network channel Yes Network, the channel owned by baseball team New York Yankees and its partners.

The deal with Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp would value the sports channel at $3 billion.

While officials from News Corp and Yes Network have refused to comment on the deal, it is believed that the media conglomerate which runs 20 regional sports networks will have an option to increase its stake to 80 per cent in three to five years.

News Corp, which will have a share in the profits, will negotiate on behalf of Yes Network with the operators as part of a larger package of sports channels which would allow Yes to raise the subscriber fee.

As per the shareholding pattern of Yes, Yankee Global Enterprises owns 34 per cent while Goldman Sachs and Providence Equity own 40 per cent. The remainder 26 per cent is owned by former owners of the Nets.

As per the deal, Fox sports channels will not manage the channel nor will provide local or national sports programming to Yes.

MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch-owned media conglomerate News Corp has completed the acquisition of ESPN Star Sports, an equal joint venture company that it had formed 16 years back with Walt Disney?s ESPN to rule sports broadcasting in Asia.

The acquisition is made through a wholly owned subsidiary. With this, ESS becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp.

News Corp had in June announced that it will buyout ESPN?s 50 per cent stake in ESS to become the sole owner of the sports network.

"News Corporation and ESPN today announced that News Corporation, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, completed its acquisition of ESPN?s partnership interest in ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) pursuant to their agreement announced on 6 June 2012," the company said.

In India, the deal was earlier cleared by India?s anti-competition watch dog Competition Commission of India.

ESS has footprint across 24 countries in Asia through its 25 television networks and three broadband networks. It has offices in China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, and employs more than 650 employees across the region.

The buyout marks the exit of ESPN from the Asian market. The global sports broadcaster, however, remains present in Asia through its digital media products which include ESPNcricinfo, ESPNFC, ESPNscrum and mobileESPN.

MUMBAI: Britian‘s Pearson and Germany‘s Bertelsmann, two world‘s leading publishers, have collaborated to create the world‘s leading consumer publishing organisation by combining Penguin and Random House. The collaboration comes at a time when the publishing industry is facing stiff competition from e-book publishers like Amazon and Apple.

Under the terms of the agreement, Penguin and Random House will combine their businesses in a newly-created joint venture named Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann will own 53 per cent of the joint venture and Pearson will own 47 per cent. The joint venture will exclude Bertelsmann‘s trade publishing business in Germany and Pearson will retain rights to use the Penguin brand in education markets worldwide.

The agreement comes in the wake of Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp showing interest in acquiring Pearson which together with Harper Collins publishing unit would have helped the media conglomerate in expanding its publishing business.

Bertelsmann will nominate five directors to the Board of Penguin Random House and Pearson will nominate four. John Makinson, currently chairman and chief executive of Penguin, will be chairman of Penguin Random House and Markus Dohle, currently chief executive of Random House, will be its chief executive.

In reviewing the long-term trends and considerable change affecting the consumer publishing industry, Pearson and Bertelsmann both concluded that the publishing and commercial success of Penguin and Random House can best be sustained and enhanced through a partnership with another major international publishing house.

They believe that the combined organisation will have a stronger platform and greater resources to invest in rich content, new digital publishing models and high-growth emerging markets. The organisation will generate synergies from shared resources such as warehousing, distribution, printing and central functions.

Pearson and Bertelsmann intend that the combined organisation‘s level of organic investment in authors and new product models will exceed the total investment of Penguin and Random House as independent publishing houses.

The two companies believe that the combination will create a highly successful new organisation, both creatively and commercially, with the breadth and investment capacity to deliver significant benefits. Readers will have access to a wider and more diverse range of frontlist and backlist content in multiple print and digital formats. Authors will gain a greater depth and breadth of service, from traditional frontlist publishing to innovative self-publishing, on a global basis.

Employees of the new organisation will be part of the world‘s first truly global consumer publishing company, committed to sustained editorial excellence and long-term investment in a rich diversity of content. And shareholders will benefit from participating in the consolidation of the consumer publishing industry without having to deploy additional capital.

The combination is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals, including merger control clearances, and is expected to complete in the second half of 2013.

In 2011, Random House reported revenues of ?1.7 billion (?1.48 bn) and operating profit of ?185 million (?161m). Penguin reported revenues of ?1.0 billion and operating profit of ?111 million with total assets of ?1.0 billion. After completion, Pearson will report its 47 per cent share of profit after tax from the joint venture as an associate in its consolidated income statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, neither Pearson nor Bertelsmann may sell any part of their shareholding in Penguin Random House for three years. To protect Pearson‘s interests as a minority shareholder, if Bertelsmann declines a Pearson offer to sell its entire shareholding, Pearson may require a recapitalisation by which Penguin Random House raises debt of up to 3.5x EBITDA, with a dividend distributed to shareholders in line with their ownership. In addition, from five years after completion, either partner may require an IPO of Penguin Random House.

Pengion Chairman and CEO John Makinson said, "All of us who work in book publishing experience every day the breathtaking pace of change in our industry. The partnership that we are announcing today will position Penguin Random House at the forefront of that change. Our access to investment resources will allow us to take risks with new authors, to defend our creative and editorial independence, to publish the broadest range of books on the planet, and to do it all with the attention to quality that has always characterised both our great companies."

Random House Chairman & CEO Markus Dohle added, "Our new company will bring together the publishing expertise, experience, and skill sets of two of the world‘s most successful, enduring trade book publishers. In doing so, we will create a publishing home that gives employees, authors, agents, and booksellers access to unprecedented resources. I deeply believe that the support and services that we will be able to offer, coupled with the creative and editorial independence that we will continue to maintain, will benefit everyone in the book publishing environment, especially our passionate readers from today‘s generation to the next."

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate owner News Corp is said to be readying an offer for publisher Penguin.

Media reports state that Penguin is valued at $1.6 billion by News Corp. News Corp owns HarperCollins Publishers. A union would create the world?s biggest consumer-book publisher.

This could spoil talks about an all-share merger between Pearson?s Penguin and Bertelsmann?s Random House. Random House hit pay dirt with ?Fifty Shades of Grey?. Bertelsmann will have 60 per cent of the new business if the deal with Pearson is successful. This union would have a 30 per cent marketshare share of English book sales.