When a family group is desperate to maintain its control of a listed company and where there is a major investor potentially threatening that control, beware a conspiracy against the minority investors.
Adam Smith could have said something like this!
The NewsCorp negotiations with Liberty most definitely fall under this criteria.
What is the likelihood that the independent Directors at NewsCorp will stand up and actually object to an agreement between Rupert Murdoch and John Malone, at Liberty. Unfortunately, almost nil!
OAM
See article:
Liberty Media, the US cable TV and investment group, is finalising a compromise with News Corp that would remove a potential threat to Rupert Murdoch's voting control of the US media and entertainment company.
John Malone, Liberty chairman and chief executive, is understood to have offered to assign rights over Liberty's near-19 per cent voting stake in News Corp - accumulated at the end of last year - to Murdoch family interests. The shareholder agreement is expected to form part of an "outline deal", easing concerns that Liberty could challenge the Murdoch family's 29 per cent voting ownership of News Corp, according to executives close to the situation.
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