
Richard Branson sold his mobile phone business to NTL for around $1 billion earlier this year. Part of the deal was that Branson would get an 11 percent stake in NTL.
Now he's pushing to get the company to make a bid on ITV. The bottom line in all of this is he would be part of a media company that could compete with Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB, the satellite television operator. The company would have the strength to bid against
Murdoch's company for top sport matches.
According to one industry observer, 'Branson is interested in being part of a big and established media combine, but also one that is at the cutting edge of digital technology. NTL/ITV is surely the ticket.'
The price of ITV could be as high as £5bn, and if the deal becomes a possibility, would probably be partially funded by Wall Street banks.
This would be worth seeing happen just to see how Branson would be involved and how he would help to promote it.







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