Now on Fox's Shopping List: Time Warner

Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox made an $80 billion bid to buy Time Warner last month, sources tell the New York Times, and while Time Warner replied with what's described as a "terse letter" of rejection, the sources say Murdoch is locked in and unlikely to give up. As part of the deal, Fox said it would sell off CNN, the Time Warner property that it suspected would raise the most antitrust objections, given that Fox owns competitor Fox News.

Fox was offering to pay $85 a share in cash and stock, which at the time was a 25% premium on Time Warner's stock price. Fox also told Time Warner that it was convinced the companies could save $1 billion by cutting redundant staff—though according to the Wall Street Journal, Time Warner was unwilling to discuss such possibilities in detail. Fox also promised to keep Time Warner's top creative people in place. The Time Warner board discussed the issue at length before rejecting the deal, and both sides have now hired Wall Street advisers. (More Time Warner stories.)