(FORTUNE Magazine) – Rupert Murdoch sure gets a lot of work done on vacation. Aboard his yacht, Morning Glory, off the coast of Italy, he recently signed a deal to buy 64% of HutchVision's STAR TV from billionaire Li Ka-shing for $525 million. The five- channel satellite television service has an audience of 45 million in 38 countries across Asia and the Middle East. Murdoch's News Corp. already owns Fox Broadcasting in the U.S. and 50% of British Sky Broadcasting, also a satellite service. So Murdoch's television holdings now span the world. Even though the 2 1/2-year-old STAR TV is still losing money, Jessica Reif, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York City, considers the price ''very reasonable for assets with great future value.'' STAR is already transforming Asia by offering everything from independent newscasts to American daytime soaps. Even viewers in Mongolia are getting hooked on MTV-Asia, a partner channel of STAR's, and in India the phenomenon has helped create Hindi rap music. Now that STAR will have access to Fox programs like Beverly Hills 90210, its hold on Asia can only get tighter. As for Li, he demonstrated once again how he has become one of the world's richest people (No. 16 on FORTUNE's billionaires list). He and Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate he controls, will probably make more than $300 million on the sale and still retain 36% of the property.