Right Wing Billionare Rupert Murdoch to buy rest of Fox shares

Rupert Murdoch, consolidating his global media empire in the United States, is expected to announce today that he will buy out the shareholders of his Fox properties for about $7 billion, executives involved in the deal said last night. Murdoch, who gave up his Australian citizenship 19 years ago to become a U.S. citizen, recently reincorporated his media and entertainment company, the News Corp., in the U.S. and shifted its primary stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange from the Australian exchange. The transaction was approved last night by the board of News Corp. The deal would solidify Murdoch's control over some of the nation's most valuable media assets such as the Fox broadcast network and the DirecTV satellite service. It also would help simplify the complicated structure of the News Corp., which includes newspapers, TV, film and satellite assets worldwide. [more]