Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has made an unsolicited $80 billion takeover offer for Time Warner, The New York Times reports, citing "people briefed on the matter." The offer, $85 a share in stock and cash, represents a 25 percent premium on Time Warner's current stock price.
Time Warner has brushed off the offer, The Times reports, but adds that "Murdoch has built a global media juggernaut over nearly five decades spanning studios, television channels and newspapers, in part, by pursuing bold deals that were often rebuffed at first by the targets of his overtures, only to later acquiesce." The sources say that "Murdoch is determined to buy Time Warner and is unlikely to walk away," the paper adds.
In this case, Murdoch seems more interested in entertainment than news: As part of the proposed deal, he would reportedly sell off CNN, to allay antitrust considerations due to News Corp.'s ownership of Fox News. But the deal would still give Murdoch HBO, Warner Brothers, TNT, TBS, the CW, and other big media outlets.
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