So did most other shares too, of course, but ITV shares are currently worth about a third less than the 135p a share BSkyB paid for its stake. (Greg Dyke and Goldman Sachs offered 130p a share for the whole company 18 months ago).
When BSkyB first bought in, it looked as though that had put the kybosh on a takeover bid from anyone else (chiefly Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Media), so the shares fell.
In theory, the removal of BSkyB should put ITV back on the market and keen suitors should be queuing up along the Gray's Inn Road.
But it doesn't look that way. (BSkyB still has its shares, of course).
Now the competition authorities (ie the government) may decide that BSkyB can stick around (although they probably won't).
But if they (or it) prevail upon the Murdoch company to sell some or all of its shares (at a stonking great loss -- £300m for the whole stake), who will be allowed to buy in?
There's no way Virgin Media will bid anything close to 130p a share and if it's allowed to go ahead with a lower bid, Murdoch interests will scream the house down.
Among other things, they will point out that Virgin Media is actually a US company (although it only operates in the UK) whereas BSkyB is British (albeit effectively controlled by News Corp).
In any event, ITV is struggling to raise the cash to keep up its investment programme (£1bn a year on programme production and acquisition) and Virgin doesn't have two beans to rub together to make programmes.
So apart from a bigger footprint, what benefit is there in a tie-up?
The rest of the media world is increasingly dominated by Google and its clones, who might like ITV but would not be greeted warmly by the broadcasting establishment or other influential voices like Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP.
So where's ITV to go?
It doesn't have to be bought by anyone, of course, but as a public company it needs to raise money to maintain its place in the market (and keep its shareholders happy).
The only bright revenue-raising wheeze it's had recently is gambling, and that's under the cosh because of the phone-in scandals. This has already cost the company £20m of annual profits.
Its digital channels are doing well but they're never likely to be as dominant as its terrestrial service. Their strength is their back catalogue of programmes and that's a declining asset over time.
So the outlook for shareholders is pretty grim, unless a private equity bidder emerges (Apax has been mentioned).
But private equity only works when there's a predictable free cash flow (as with energy or infrastructure companies and some retailers) and ITV is having to fight for every bit of its revenue.
This doesn't mean that ITV's bad, or that Grade's plans to make more ambitious programmes are wrong.
It's just that it's hard to see ITV becoming a growth outfit again through its own efforts.
Maybe an unholy alliance with BSkyB wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Politics of the media is a regular series of opinion pieces for Brand Republic about the way media shapes politics and vice-versa. Stephen Foster is a partner at The Editorial Partnership and can be contacted at:steve-edco@blueyonder.co.uk.