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Fox hopes to raise $2.1B
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October 20, 1998: 7:58 p.m. ET
Murdoch's Fox aims to sell up to 97.5 million shares at $21 to $24 each
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. hopes to raise as much as $2.1 billion in an initial public offering of its Fox Entertainment division.
According to an amended filing Tuesday, the company hopes to sell up to 97.5 million shares of Fox Entertainment to the public at a suggested price between $21 and $24 a share.
News Corp. (NWS) did not specify when the offering would come to market, but Renaissance Capital said the offering is scheduled to go to market in mid-November.
Murdoch said last week he was worried about a world recession and warned he would not go ahead with the spin-off of his Fox movie and television interests until financial markets had settled.
According to the filing, the Fox Entertainment Group had 1998 revenues of more than $7 billion and operating income of $663 million.
The group will pool together all of News Corp.'s U.S.-based filmed entertainment, television programming and sports team assets. Tucked into the fold will be some of the crown jewels of Murdoch's global media portfolio: the Fox Television network -- producer of such Nielsen ratings juggernauts as "The X-Files" and "Ally McBeal" -- the 20th Century Fox movie studio and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The company said net proceeds of the offering, after deducting for expenses, are expected to be about $1.8 billion, or $2.1 billion if underwriters exercise over-allotment options.
Contained in the prospectus, filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, were the financial results for several Fox divisions, including its cable television operations and film studio.
Fox said its cable network programming unit lost $141 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, compared with a loss of $148 million a year ago. Fox attributed the deficit to losses at its fledging cable news operation -- Fox News.
However, the company said Fox News' revenues rose 95 percent in fiscal 1998 to $95 million, reflecting a larger subscriber base. Fox said its news channel, which competes with CNN, had 34 million subscribers at the end of June, with commitments to add another 7 million in the future. 
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News Corp.
FOX.com
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