News Corporation has announced that it has sold its shareholding in Japanese satellite broadcaster Sky Perfect Communications in a deal worth $227 million.
The media giant said that its 8.1% stake in Sky Perfect had been sold to the company’s exisiting shareholders, namely Sony, Fuji Television and trading house Itochu.
The divestment follows the disposal of a number of minor News Corp businesses including INL in New Zealand (see News Corp Offloads New Zealand Publications) and comes at a time when Rupert Murdoch is directing resources into the newly acquired US broadcaster DirecTV (see Murdoch Seals Acquisition Of DirecTV).
It is suggested that the media mogul’s Far East ambitions were frustrated by Japanese legislation which prevents foreign investors from owning more than 20% of a broadcaster.
