Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOX) & Time Warner Inc (TWX) Deal: Rupert Murdoch Offers Board Seats

Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX), has offered seats on the company’s board to members of Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) in a bid to acquire the latter. Wall Street Journal’s deputy bureau chief, Amol Sharma, and former New York Times digital chief, Martin Nisenholtz, recently spoke on Fox Business about the probable partnership.

Sharma called the move to give seats “cosmetic.” He said, “Board seats at Fox, given the control structure, the fact that the Murdoch family controls the company through its super voting shares, it doesn’t mean much.”

Nisenholtz considers that Murdoch has had much success even without the academic background of his counterpart, and has shown great business acumen, but that the CEO of Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX), Jeffery Bewkes, would probably have taken some operating decisions differently in the running of the businesses. He said, “You have to look at it from the shareholder’s point of view. Do you want Rupert Murdoch managing your money, or do you want Jeffery Bewkes managing your money?” He believes that both CEOs have vastly different styles of management, and would have made different choices in some situations.

“Turner [division of Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX)] have had great profits the last couple of years. So they have a track record to point to there. Double digit increases in operating and income they have really got a story to tell. On the other hand, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX), especially internationally – over half of the company’s revenue is coming from overseas revenue, they are growing much more quickly than Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) is in some of these markets. They can each make their case to shareholders. Who should be steering this huge company if it came together and run it into the future?” Sharma added.

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3701232022001/fox-to-give-time-warner-seats-on-its-board/?playlist_id=937116503001#sp=show-clips
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