Ever since Time Warner made it clear last month that it wanted nothing to do with a possible tie-up with Rupert Murdoch’s vast media empire, observers continue to weigh in on the likelihood of a merger despite the company’s protests.
Time Warner rejected the unsolicited $80 billion cash-and-stock proposal led by the Australian billionaire’s 21st Century Fox, citing a myriad of complicating factors. But that didn’t stop 21st Century Fox from announcing the sale of its pay-television business in Italy and Germany to British Sky Broadcasting Group for more than $9 billion on July 25, in what some analysts speculated was a move to free up assets in order for Murdoch to continue pursuing Time Warner.
