CORPORATE DIVESTITURE – UNITED STATES

Fox deal seals Murdoch succession

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Original article by Brooks Barnes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 18-May-18

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has advised that Lachlan Murdoch will become CEO and chairman of what has been dubbed "New Fox" if a deal to sell most of its entertainment assets to Disney proceeds. Rupert Murdoch will be co-chairman of what would be a much smaller company, with assets such as the Fox broadcast network and cable channel Fox News. Lachlan Murdoch says the new Fox will be a "leader in news, sports and entertainment". Fox’s current CEO James Murdoch is widely tipped to leave the group and start his own business.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY, FOX NEWS, COMCAST CORPORATION, HULU LLC, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Why Rupert is still in the news

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Original article by Con Frantzeskos
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 38 : 21-Dec-17

Rupert Murdoch’s decision to sell the bulk of 21 Century Fox’s assets to Walt Disney Company reflects that the fact that digital disruptors have largely only affected the channels for distributing content, rather than the content itself. Murdoch will retain TV assets that primarily broadcast live content, such as news and sport, in which digital players such as Facebook and Google have made relatively limited progress to date. Murdoch is also repositioning his media empire to focus on live news and sports at a local level, which has always been his forte.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY, FOX NEWS, FOX SPORTS, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED

Why Murdoch changed his tune on selling

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Original article by Amol Sharma, Joel Flint
The Australian – Page: 17 & 22 : 7-Dec-17

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has a market capitalisation of about $US60bn ($A79.1bn). The proposal to sell the bulk of its assets to Walt Disney Company would allow Murdoch to achieve a premium price for those assets at a time when the traditional media industry is facing growing competition from companies such as Netflix and Google. A deal with Disney might also help resolve the issue of succession at 21st Century Fox, as there has been speculation that CEO James Murdoch could take up an executive role at Disney, leaving the way clear for Lachlan Murdoch to head Fox.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, COMCAST CORPORATION, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, SKY PLC, 20TH CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, METROMEDIA INTERNATIONAL, STAR INDIA, FOX NEWS, HARPERCOLLINS, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, HBO, AT&T CORPORATION, TESLA INCORPORATED, VICE MEDIA INCORPORATED, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE

Murdoch beats the bushes for a deal

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Original article by Elizabeth Knight
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 7 : 18-Nov-17

Netflix has transformed the media industry in a little more than a decade, essentially because of all the content it possesses. It is the desire for more content of their own that is seeing companies such as Amazon and Verizon casting their eyes over the content assets owned by the Murdoch family’s 21st Century Fox. Investors clearly think that the Murdochs are interested in doing some type of deal, with shares in 21st Century Fox having risen by around 18 per cent in the last two weeks.

CORPORATES
NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, COMCAST CORPORATION, SKY PLC, FOX NEWS, FOX SPORTS, NBN CO LIMITED, NBC UNIVERSAL INCORPORATED, HULU LLC, AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED

Murdoch’s Fox shares rise on talk of sale of key assets to rival Disney

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 8-Nov-17

The share price of 21st Century Fox has risen by more than nine per cent in response to media reports that it had held talks about selling most of its assets to the Walt Disney Company. The discussions were said to be preliminary and have been discontinued, but it is believed that the talks could resume. The reports suggested that Fox would sell assets such as its film and TV studios to Disney, while retaining its news and sports broadcasting assets. Fox has a market capitalisation of $US50bn, while Disney’s market capitalisation is $US155bn.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, CNBC, GABELLI FUNDS, SKY PLC, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, AT&T CORPORATION, 20TH CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, FOX NEWS CHANNEL, STAR INDIA, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, HARPERCOLLINS

Shareholders to get shale sale cash within two years, says BHP

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 24-Aug-17

BHP Billiton will aim to divest its US shale assets within two years, according to CFO Peter Beaven. CEO Andrew Mackenzie had previously indicated that the assets would be sold "relatively quickly". Beaven also said the proceeds of the sale are likely to be distributed to shareholders. Analysts differ regarding the valuation of the shale assets, with sale price forecasts generally ranging from $US7bn to $US10bn. The shale assets currently have a book value of $US14bn.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, ELLIOTT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, TUDOR PICKERING HOLT AND COMPANY LLC, ANADARKO PETROLEUM CORPORATION

BHP puts US shale back on block

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 17 & 26 : 27-Apr-17

BHP Billiton has reduced its 2017 forecast for copper production to between 1.33 million and 1.36 million tonnes due to the impact of industrial action at the Escondida mine in Chile. Metallurgical coal output is also expected to be lower due to Cyclone Debbie in Queensland, while iron ore production guidance has been reduced to between 268 million and 272 million tonnes following inclement weather in Western Australia during the March quarter. Meanwhile, BHP has flagged plans to sell its Fayetteville shale gas fields in the US.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, ELLIOTT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Demerging Alcoa slams ‘opportunistic’ Alumina

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Original article by Barry FitzGerald
The Australian – Page: 22 : 10-Jun-16

Alcoa’s vice-president of investor relations, Matt Garth, has criticised Alumina over its attempt to use the US group’s proposed demerger to renegotiate the Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals joint venture. Garth told investors and analysts in Sydney that Alumina is being "emotional and opportunistic", and rejected the Australian-listed company’s claim that it must agree to the Alcoa demerger under the terms of the AWAC agreement. He added that Alcoa is confident that a court will rule in its favour.

CORPORATES
ALUMINA LIMITED – ASX AWC, ALCOA INCORPORATED, ALCOA WORLDWIDE ALUMINA AND CHEMICALS, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Yahoo US deal may see Seven exit JV

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 21 : 13-Apr-16

There has been speculation that Australian-listed Seven West Media could seek to exit the Yahoo!7 joint venture if US internet giant Yahoo! divests its news and media assets. The joint venture boated revenue of $A99.6m in 2014-15, and Seven receives 50 per cent of Yahoo!7’s profits. Morgan Stanley recently forecast that global internet groups such as Google and Facebook will account for between $A4bn and $A5bn worth of advertising revenue in 2016.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, YAHOO!7 COMMUNICATIONS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, YAHOO! INCORPORATED, MORGAN STANLEY AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, PACIFIC MAGAZINES PTY LTD, DAILY MAIL AND GENERAL TRUST PLC, DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, VIACOM INCORPORATED, IAC/INTERACTIVECORP, CBS CORPORATION