News Corp. plans to sell a 5.28% stake in China’s Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings for about $92 million, as the media giant prepares to restructure itself into separate companies. The sale is intended to “simplify ownership structures,” said Deputy COO James Murdoch.
“Today’s sale is simply a part of our broader global agenda of simplifying our affiliate ownership structures,” said James Murdoch.
Star Entertainment Holdings Ltd., a News Corp. unit, will still hold about 12.2% of the Hong Kong-based television broadcaster after the sale.
The deal comes as News Corp. is preparing to spin off its publishing business into a separate publicly traded company. The publishing spinoff, set to become a separate publicly held business in June, will start out with $2.6 billion in cash after receiving a $1.82 billion infusion from the parent company. The publishing business, which includes the Wall Street Journal in the U.S. and the Sun newspaper in the U.K., will have $18.6 billion in total assets.
The company’s entertainment operations will be called the Fox Group Inc.
