News Corporation takeover bid for BSkyB

The News Corporation takeover bid for BSkyB was a proposed takeover of British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) by News Corporation, the media conglomerate of Rupert Murdoch. The bid was launched in June 2010, but was withdrawn in July 2011 following the News International phone hacking scandal. News Corporation already owned 39.1% of BSkyB, and held on to its stake following the collapse of the takeover bid. The takeover was an essential part of News Corporation's business strategy, not least as it would have made possible integration with other entities such as Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia.The Guardian went so far as to say that, "Without a full takeover of BSkyB, News Corp's global satellite strategy would look an unco-ordinated mess."

The first key turning point in the planned takeover was the removal in December 2010 of regulatory approval from Vince Cable, who had told undercover reporters from The Daily Telegraph he had "declared war" on Murdoch. When these comments were made public, the final say on the deal went instead to Jeremy Hunt. Cable's comments on this matter were not published by the Telegraph, but were instead leaked to BBC journalist Robert Peston, most likely (according to a later Telegraph investigation) by two former Telegraph employees who had moved to News International, a News Corporation subsidiary. Hunt was much more sympathetic to the takeover bid than Cable.

The second turning point was the series of revelations in early July of the hacking of the phones of non-celebrity victims by the News of the World, a tabloid newspaper published by News International. Details of the activities, especially regarding the paper's hacking into the voicemail of murder victim Milly Dowler, sparked widespread outrage against News Corporation. Attempts to defuse the scandal by closing the News of the World and publishing an apology by Murdoch both failed. In the face of a planned motion in the House of Commons calling on News Corporation to abandon the bid, News Corporation acquiesced.

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