Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOX), Time Warner Inc (TWX): Bid Withdrawal Affects ValueAct Capital

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) recently withdrew its bid to acquire Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) at $85 a share, or about $80 billion. Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) cited the drop in its stock price, making the acquisition unattractive to its shareholders and Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) decision to not engage in talks with the company, as the reason for withdrawing its bid. Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX)’s stock had declined significantly after it was revealed that the company had made a bid to acquire Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX). It has also been revealed recently that, Jeffrey Ubben, the CEO of ValueAct Capital Management, has purchased a $1 billion stake in Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) in the past few months.

VALUEACT CAPITAL

David Faber from CNBC, discussed the decision by Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX)  to withdraw its bid for Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX)  and ValueAct’s stake in the company.

” When we learned, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX)’s decision to withdraw its bid for Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) and surprisingly perhaps it chose not even to raise that bid and hang around longer, but simply said we are going home, we are following our standalone plan and we won’t be seeing you for quite some time,” Faber said.

Faber then mentioned that ValueAct has purchased a $1 billion stake in Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) during the period, when it was revealed that the company was bidding for Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX). Faber also said that he spoke with  Ubben this morning and Ubben believes that Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX)’s decision to combine with Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) made great sense, but he was in sync with Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX)’s management decision to withdraw the bid in the belief that the company was better off as a standalone company for now. Ubben also believes that by 2016, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) can earn as much as $2.50 a share, at which point Fox Sports would also be breaking even, which can itself become a significant revenue generator for Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX).

Disclosure: None