Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

David Prosser: Murdoch's most expensive victory

Saturday 05 March 2011 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Outlook: The price of BSkyB keeps rising.News Corp initially put 700p on the table, but now that it has received clearance from theCulture Secretary it will know that it is not going to buy the company at that price, however fiercely Murdoch's people are briefing that the offer reflects their in-depth knowledge of Sky. What it may not have banked upon, however, is the determination of some Sky shareholders to extract ever last penny of value from the deal – and then to ask for some more.

The word in the City yesterday was that leading Sky investors want 1100p a share from theMurdochs. That's getting on for £3 more than the current market price, though the stock has been rising all week, and it's almost double the 600p or so at which Sky was trading before News Corp made its intentions known early in the summer of last year.

Will News Corp really have to pay so much? 1100p seems wildly optimistic on the part of investors, but it is becoming clearer by the day that the regulatory victory may turn out to have been the easy part of clinching this deal.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in