Entertainment company Time Warner rejected an 80-billion-dollar takeover offer by media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
21st Century Fox, whose properties include lucrative cable networks and a film studio, confirmed the offer in a statement without providing details.
“We made a formal proposal to Time Warner last month to combine the two companies. The Time Warner Board of Directors declined to pursue our proposal. We are not currently in any discussions with Time Warner,” it said.
Speculation has been rife for months that the 83-year-old Murdoch is interested in adding Time Warner --whose properties include HBO and CNN -- to his extensive portfolio of media properties stretching across the globe.
The New York Times suggested that despite Time Warner’s board rebuffing Murdoch, the deal may not yet be dead, and that 21st Century Fox could attempt to woo their rival with a new offer.
21st Century Fox had put forward a cash-stock offer valued at 85 dollars per share, the paper said.
Time Warner’s shares soared more than 15 per cent in pre-market trading on word of the offer.