Media magnate Rupert Murdoch was on Wednesday forced to withdraw his News Corporation’s bid for a complete takeover of British broadcaster BSkyB. News Corp. wanted to increase its stake from 39.1 per cent to 100 per cent in BSkyB, which owns Sky TV.
Mr Murdoch was facing increasing pressure to withdraw the bid after allegations of widespread phone hacking by his UK newspaper group. He has already shut down the News of the World newspaper over phone-hacking allegations.
“We believed the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corp. would benefit both companies but it has become clear it is too difficult to progress in this climate,” Chase Carey, News Corp. deputy chairman and president said in a statement.
The announcement came as the House of Commons was due to vote on Wednesday afternoon on a Labour motion urging Mr Murdoch to drop his bid. The Labour motion, which would be non-binding legally, was fully supported by Prime Minister David Cameron and his Tory MPs and the LibDem Party.
The united political pressure along with influential US Senator John D. Rockefeller IV calling for investigation into the activities of News Corp. in the United States made it untenable for Mr Murdoch to continue with the takeover bid.