News Corp has completed the sale of Australian media company Foxtel Group to DAZN Group, the companies said on Wednesday. News Corp and Aussie telecom giant Telstra had struck the deal with the sports streaming platform late last year. The transaction is worth about $2.1 billion.
The completion of the deal follows DAZN receiving approval for the acquisition from the Foreign Investment Review Board, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and other regulatory authorities.
With the completion, shareholder loans were repaid to News Corp, and News Corp received a 6 roughly percent stake in DAZN.
News Corp is owned by the family of Rupert Murdoch and is the home to Dow Jones and such publications as The Wall Street Journal as well as the New York Post.
News Corp’s senior vp and deputy chief financial officer Andrew Cramer has also joined the board of DAZN, and the media giant emphasized that it and “its platforms remain committed in their passionate support for Australian sport and entertainment.”
Said News Corp CEO Robert Thomson: “Foxtel’s successful transformation to becoming a leading provider of sports and entertainment is a result of the team’s tenacity, creativity and professionalism. Foxtel employees should be proud of their contribution to that success in the ultra-competitive content contest.”
He added: “We are confident that DAZN is poised to drive the next phase of Foxtel’s growth, and we are delighted to be DAZN’s partner and shareholder. And we are pleased to have extra capital strength and optionality.”
News Corp CFO Lavanya Chandrashekar said: “The sale of Foxtel is significant for News Corp, and will enable greater focus on our core growth pillars, which drove over 95 percent of total segment EBITDA in the company’s fiscal second quarter,” said News Corp’s Chief Financial Officer. “It will also meaningfully strengthen our balance sheet and should reduce future capital intensity and improve return on invested capital.”
News Corp also highlighted that it expects the sale to be accretive to its earnings per share.
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