Murdoch swaps DirecTV

The long-discussed plan for News Corp. to hand over its controlling stake in the El Segundo-based satellite service to Liberty Media was announced this morning. In return, Liberty, which is controlled by media tycoon John Malone, will relinquish a 16 percent stake in News Corp. valued at $11 billion. Some backstory from the WSJ

Relations between Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Malone, once allies, have been tense since Liberty accumulated a large voting interest in News Corp. two years ago. The move appeared to threaten Mr. Murdoch's control of the media conglomerate, which he exercised through a roughly 30% voting stake held by his family. At the time, News Corp. adopted a poison-pill takeover-defense plan to stop Liberty buying any additional stock. Until this incident, Mr. Malone and Mr. Murdoch enjoyed a close relationship going back decades, working together on several business ventures. Liberty originally accumulated some of its stake through transactions with News Corp. But those shares were nonvoting. Mr. Malone didn't alert Mr. Murdoch before he did the deals that gave Liberty a big voting stake. Buying Liberty's stake will effectively eliminate the voting power of its shares, raising the voting stake of remaining shareholders.

Here's the Business Wire release.