Murdoch to buy rest of Fox shares in $7 billion deal

Rupert Murdoch, consolidating his global media empire in the United States, is expected to announce today that he will buy out the shareholders of his Fox properties for about $7 billion, executives involved in the deal said Sunday night.

The deal would solidify Murdoch's control over some of the nation's most valuable media assets like the Fox broadcast network and the DirecTV satellite service and help simplify the complicated structure of his far-flung company, the News Corp., which includes newspapers, television, film and satellite assets around the globe.

The transaction, which the board of News Corp. approved Sunday night, would also make Murdoch's company even more American. Murdoch, who gave up his Australian citizenship 19 years ago to become a U.S. citizen, recently reincorporated News Corp. in the United States and shifted its primary stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange from the Australian exchange.

"The move underscores the simplification process: Murdoch's drive to make News Corporation a simpler and more shareholder friendly U.S. company," said Mario Gabelli, chief investment officer of Gabelli Asset Management, whose fund owns shares of both News Corp. and the Fox Entertainment Group.

The move to bring his Fox business, called Fox Entertainment Group, back inside the fold of New Corp. will also give him more flexibility to wield his deal making muscle in the United States, where he used to have to rely on the often faltering stock price of his Fox subsidiary as a currency for deals.

"This makes it easier for News Corp. to do deals. It simplifies the structure and gives it full control over the deal making process," said Harold L. Vogel, an entertainment analyst.

The move follows other conglomerates like Viacom and Time Warner who have tried to streamline their ownership structures in recent years to give them more control over content and make them easier for investors to understand.

The timing of the transaction raises questions about the status of Murdoch's feud with John C. Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, who raised his company's investment in the News Corp. to 17 percent in November behind the back of Murdoch, who owns a 30 percent voting stake.

Only a week later, News Corp. introduced a plan to thwart would-be hostile bidders and keep Murdoch in control of the company, which he plans to turn over to his sons: Lachlan, now deputy chief operating officer, and James, chief executive of British Sky Broadcasting, Murdoch's satellite TV company in Britain.