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News Corp. extends its poison pill

NEW YORK, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. media giant News Corp. has extended its poison pill anti-takeover defense as it struggles with a perceived threat from Liberty Media Corp.

News Corp. first adopted the poison pill in November after Liberty revealed it had increased its voting stake to nearly 18 percent, close to the 29.5 percent held by the family of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

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The strategy lets News Corp. issue a huge amount of extra stock if someone buys more than 15 percent of News Corp.'s voting shares, diluting the buyer's stake sharply. In Liberty's case, the pill effectively freezes its stake at 18 percent.

News Corp. said Wednesday extending its poison pill was intended to stop "potential future acquisitions of significant amounts of News Corp. voting stock by Liberty without consultation with the board," the Wall Street Journal said Thursday.

It added that the board wanted to extend the takeover defense until Liberty and News Corp. "reach a favorable resolution with respect to Liberty's ownership stake."

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