, have abandoned a potential merger after a special committee determined that “a combination is not optimal for shareholders.”
Multiple shareholders in the companies had expressed their opposition to the merger in recent months. London-based investment firm Independent Franchise Partners, which owns one of the largest stakes of any investor not named Murdoch, at about 7% in both companies, The companies last year announced they were looking into reuniting more than a decade after the split of 21st Century Fox, which held film, TV and digital assets and News Corp., which became home to publishing and digital properties such as. The $71.3 billion sale of most of 21st Century Fox to Disney netted the Murdoch family an immense haul but also left it with a much smaller company controlling Fox News, the Fox broadcast network and other TV assets.