Murdoch Mulls Offloading DIRECTV Stake

NEW YORK, September 15: Published reports in the U.S.
indicate that News Corporation is considering offloading its 34-percent stake
in leading satellite platform DIRECTV to Liberty Media.

In return for the DIRECTV stake, Liberty Media would trade
its 19-percent interest in News Corp. The New York Times reports that News
Corp.’s DIRECTV interest is valued at about $9 billion, while Liberty Media’s
News Corp. interest is worth about $11 billion.

Liberty Media is the largest shareholder in News Corp. after
chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch has been working to block Liberty from
exerting any further influence at the company, enacting a “poison pill”
strategy last year. The two companies have been in discussions about the
Liberty Media stake for about two years, and reports indicate that Murdoch
wants to have the issue resolved before News Corp.’s October 20 shareholder
meeting.