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Tag: Michael O’Sullivan

  • NewsCorp envisages stock option to safegaurd stakes

    NewsCorp envisages stock option to safegaurd stakes

    MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Ltd. Today took preventive action in a bid to insulate itself against any hostile bid from the US cable company Liberty Media Corp.

    The News Corp plan envisages issuing stock options to dilute the stake of any predator, according to a Reuters report from Sydney.

    John Malone’s Liberty began a transaction last week that could increase its voting stake in News Corp. to about 17 percent from nine per cent, raising speculation it could launch a takeover bid for Murdoch’s media empire.

    Realising that Liberty’s Malone could make a hostile bid on an empire that Murdoch has built for his children, News Corp announced on Monday it would give its shareholders the right to buy one News Corp. share at half price for each share they own, if any party buys a 15 percent stake in the company. Shareholders would be able to buy up to $80 of half-price shares.

    The strategy would exclude the purchaser of the 15 per cent stake, providing a “poison pill” defense against anyone plotting to take control of News Corp. from 73-year-old Murdoch and his heirs apparent, sons Lachlan and James.

    “It means it’s very much more expensive for Malone to maintain his position or extend his position in the company and he has to make the judgment as to whether it’s worth it or not,” Reuters quoted Michael O’Sullivan, president of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, which advises pension funds on corporate governance issues saying.

    The existing holdings of Malone, a long-time ally of Murdoch, would not trigger the rights plan, but additional shareholdings would.

    “The logic is to stop anyone acquiring the company or if they’re going to acquire the company, they have to go and speak to the Murdoch interests. It locks the company up effectively,” an analyst who refused to be named told Reuters.

    According to News Corp said its move was prompted by Liberty’s decision to engage investment bank Merrill Lynch in a hedging transaction for more than 80 million News Corp. Class B shares.

    “There was no communication with the company about that decision before it was made, and it’s too early to tell what Liberty’s intentions are, but we’re not necessarily treating them as friendly,” said News Corp. spokesman Greg Baxter.

    Could a Malone takeover change strategy for News Corp’s pan-Asian venture, Star group, including the profitable venture in India? Difficult to say, but a new owner is certain to have his or her own vision, which could result in some expansions lined by Star India to be put in the cold storage.

    But that is a big if, considering Murdoch is unlikely to give up control over an empire that he has built up so assiduously.Murdoch has groomed sons Lachlan, News Corp.’s deputy chief operating officer, and James, BSkyB’s chief executive, to eventually run News Corp.

  • Action packed Friday nights on Star Movies this April

    Action packed Friday nights on Star Movies this April

    MUMBAI: With Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, Friday nights are going to get action packed week after week during this April with Star Movie’s Friday Night Premiere.
     

    After the Oscar Fever and Made in India festivals, Star Movies is all set to take its viewers on a roller coaster ride this April with the premier of the latest award winning and box office hits like- The Pianist, Road to Perdition, The Ring, Jeepers Creepers and Bullet-proof Monk.

    With some of the best performances by some of Hollywood’s great stars, the premiere is kick starting with The Pianist, on Friday 2 April at 9.00 pm. The film is an adaptation of the autobiography of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the renowned Polish composer and pianist, was made by the acclaimed director Roman Polanski and was the winner of three Oscars.

    The next blockbuster on the track is Road to Perdition to be aired on 9 April, starring two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks along with Paul Newman and Jude Law. Directed by Oscar winning director of American Beauty Sam Mendes, the film is set in the depression-era Chicago where hit man Michael O’Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is known to his friends and enemies alike as the ‘Angel of Death’, a person who is uncompromising in his work but at the same time devoted to his private life. But when these two worlds collide, taking the lives of his wife and his younger son, O’Sullivan embarks on a startling journey of revenge.

    The next on 16 April at 9.00 pm is The Ring, a suspense thriller starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson, the lead actor of Gurinder Chadha’s forthcoming Bride & Prejudice. Directed by Gore Verbinski, this film is a remake of one of Japan’s biggest box office hits.

    That’s not all. Another film in the horror-suspense genre Jeepers Creepers awaits on 23 April. The film is about a group of unsuspecting teens from college across the US, encounters a supernatural creature, hell bent on killing them. In their attempt to escape, this fast paced thriller fills one with heart-stopping jolts and mind-bending twists.

    The month ends with the action packed Bulletproof Monk starring Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott to be aired on 30 April. The story is about a mysterious monk who has for 60 years protected an ancient scroll that holds the key to unlimited power. But when a streetwise punk saves him from capture, the monk thinks that he has found a replacement protector for the scroll.