Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) said it had secured a deal to buy Britain’s Sky on Wednesday, ratcheting up the pressure on rival bidder Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) to return with an even higher offer.
The fight to buy the European television group is part of a broader battle being waged in the global entertainment industry as American media giants offer tens of billions of dollars in deals to compete with upstarts like Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Fox — which is widely expected to receive regulatory approval from the U.K. this week after initially reaching a deal with Sky in December 2016 — increased its offer to £14 per share on Wednesday morning, up from £10.75 per share. This values the deal at $32.5 billion.
The news puts the ball back in the court of Comcast, which had offered £12.50 per share for Sky.
Fox, which already owns a 39% stake of Sky, said it had secured the backing of the independent committee of Sky for the deal.
The new Fox bid marks the latest shot in an 18-month takeover battle for Sky. Disney (NYSE: DIS) has agreed a $71-billion takeover of Fox’s entertainment assets, and will own all of Sky if Fox wins its bid.
Sky is seen as one of the media industry’s most coveted prizes for U.S. companies looking to expand their operations to Europe
Fox shares dwindled 67 cents, or 1.4%, to $49.10 Wednesday morning, while shares in Comcast slipped 15 cents to $33.19
