Rupert Murdoch has bowed to intense political pressure and withdrawn News Corp’s planned £7.8bn ($12.6bn) bid to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting, after the company admitted public condemnation of phone hacking at his UK newspapers made the climate “too difficult”.
The decision to abandon the 13-month pursuit of the UK commercial broadcaster means the phone-hacking scandal has forced Mr Murdoch not only to close his most widely read British newspaper, the News of the World, but also to curtail his ambitions to consolidate his pay-television empire in Europe.
Downing Street welcomed the news, saying: “As the prime minister has said, the business should focus on clearing up the mess and getting its own house in order.”