Sky News for sale. 21st Century Fox plans to sell Sky News to Walt Disney in order to finally be able to complete the acquisition of 61% of Sky which the Murdoch group does not yet hold and which has been blocked since 2016 due to the stop imposed by the British Antitrust according to which, the purchase of the residual stake by the Murdoch family, which thus would take total control of society, would violate the media on the plurality of the media.
First things first. The Murdoch group controls Sky with 39,1% of the capital and in December 2016 it announced its intention to acquire the remaining 61% of the capital, thus becoming the sole owner of the brand. However, the "takeover" had been blocked by the United Kingdom's Competition Authority, which had raised strong misgivings about the effect 21st Century Fox shopping would have on the country's news independence. To date, the Murdoch family is in fact the head not only of Fox, but also of The Sun and The Times, two of the most important British newspapers.
Therefore, by selling Sky News to Disney, the "status quo" could be considered safe and the EU antitrust could dissolve the reservations on the acquisition of the residual part of Sky by Fox.
However, there is another important element to take into consideration, last December, Fox itself was bought out by Disney for a single fee monstre equal to 52,4 billion dollars (Disney also took on $12 billion in debt). However, the deal excludes business and news channels, which remain in the hands of 21st Century Fox after an intervention by the American antitrust (Murdoch owns the New York Post and Wall Street Journal).
At this point, with the proposal to also spin off Sky News, Disney, which has already expressed its interest, could have its own news channels and Murdoch could gain control of Sky. Everyone is happy, including the Antitrust.
