News Corp drops Australia as headquarters move to US

LONDON – News Corporation has said goodbye to small-town Adelaide as it cuts its ties with Australia and moves its headquarters and primary stock market listing to New York.

News Corp, which started out as a single newspaper in Adelaide, said that the move would give it better access to capital markets in the US, where it earns more than 75% of its revenues and profits.

At the same time as the move, News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch ruled out making any major acquistions.

"We remain opportunistic but quite honestly we have no major acquisitions in sight at all," he said.

The media giant is to reincorporate in the US by the end of 2004 and the deal will be tax-free for most shareholders of News Corp's Australian stock. According to analysts, the company has kept its primary listing in Australia to avoid capital gains charges.

In January this year, speculation mounted on whether US giant Liberty Media, which owns businesses including Discovery and QVC, could be interested in taking over Rupert Murdoch's company after it increased its voting shares in the company to 9.1%.

Reports said that even though billionaire Liberty CEO John Malone and Murdoch have a long history as friends, Murdoch was unaware that Malone was planning to do the deal, which saw him swap non-voting shares as well as paying $693m (£377.3m).

The move made Liberty the second-most-influential shareholder in News Corporation after the Murdoch family. News Corp was later reported as welcoming the move.

Speculation was further tempered by the fact that a takeover would have to be approved by the Australian government because of laws regarding foreign ownership of media companies.

Murdoch took US citizenship to escape media ownership laws and has lived in America since the Seventies.

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