Comcast Seeks To Outfox Murdoch With Rival Sky Bid

US cable giant Comcast joined in the battle for pan-European satellite TV group Sky on Tuesday

London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Feb, 2018 ) :US cable giant Comcast joined in the battle for pan-European satellite tv group Sky on Tuesday, outbidding Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, whose takeover ambitions have hit UK government resistance.

In a surprise announcement before the London stock market opened, Comcast said it was making an all-cash offer of 12.

50 per share for Sky, or more than �22 billion ($31 billion, 25 billion Euros) overall.

That is substantially more than the �10.75 per share or �11.4 billion that Fox has offered for the 61 percent of Sky it does not already own. The announcement -- and the prospect of a bidding war -- sent Sky's share price soaring more than 20 percent on the London Stock Exchange.

"We would like to own the whole of Sky and we will be looking to acquire over 50 percent of the Sky shares," said Comcast chief executive and chairman Brian L. Roberts.