On June 20, 2012, Foxtel was headquartered in North Ryde, Sydney.
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Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said it could sell Australian cable and streaming unit Foxtel after being approached, a deal that would end its involvement in a high-management-fee asset that has struggled to adapt Netflix era.
News Corp said it was considering a deal after the unit posted a 5% fall in profits for the June quarter in its latest trading report. News Corp's overall profits, versus Murdoch's breakup Fox Corporation During 2013, the company's stock price rose 11%, driven by its real estate listing business.
News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson said in a statement that the review of News Corp's business units “coincides with interest from third parties in potential transactions involving Foxtel”.
“We are evaluating options with our advisors based on outside interest.”
The sale of Foxtel will ease pressure on News Corp. and the disruption of cheap, thin-margin streaming services.
Foxtel once dominated Australian pay TV with its physical set-top boxes installed next to people's televisions, but since Netflix it has lost subscribers who pay about A$100 ($66) a month for the service. disney and Amazon Start rolling out streaming offers at a fraction of the price.
Foxtel, the dominant Australian telecommunications company Telstra It owns a 35% stake and launched its own streaming service in 2020 with a set-top box. That offset declines in high-paying traditional subscriber numbers, but not in subscriber revenue, which increased 1% in the June quarter.
Nonetheless, News Corp's Australian-listed shares rose 8% during the session as investors cheered the better-than-expected results and the prospect of Foxtel's future ownership issues being resolved.
News Corp did not put a value on the Foxtel sale. Telstra could not immediately be reached for comment.
Analyst Craig Huber said: “Investors were frustrated by how long it would take to formally announce the company's simplification, but while the process is ongoing, financials continue to be strong, with both revenue and margins improving. Better than expected.