News of the World phone hacking scandal costs Rupert Murdoch £6bn in Sky takeover

Rupert Murdoch has launched a fresh £18bn ($22bn) bid to takeover Sky via his US outfit 21<sup>st Century Fox. Reports on Friday (9 December) suggest that Sky will be recommending the offer to its shareholders.

However, the price tag attached to deal, on a cold December evening, is steeper than Murdoch's previous attempt to takeover the broadcaster in the summer of 2010.

In June 2010, Sky's share price was lurking in the region of 576p, and subsequently spiked to 698p following the news of a takeover attempt by Murdoch's News Corp (then News International).

However, the phone-hacking scandal that saw the arrest of its former editor Andy Coulson, and the closure of News International's flagship Sunday tabloid The News of the World, meant the deal was abandoned in July 2011.

Over five years later, with Sky's share price having spiked to 999.8p at the close of the London Stock Exchange on news of Murdoch's latest £18bn bid, the media tycoon has ended up forking over massive £6bn more.

Counting in a post-Brexit depreciation, that is still a pretty steep premium in sterling terms. However, 21<sup>st Century Fox is incorporated in the US. With the dollar at its highest level against the pound in over 30-years following the Brexit vote, for Murdoch's American entity, the deal works out to 17% cheaper either side of the 23 June vote.

What was politically unpalatable for News Corp at the height of the phone hacking scandal, now seems very attractive to 21st Century Fox. If adjusted for inflation, the Murdoch fudge still has a price attached to it, but his US entity can handle that post-Brexit.