Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon appear to have a spring in their step following the recent passing of the federal government’s media reforms in the Senate, so much so that the billionaire media moguls have made another bid for Network Ten.
In a letter to Ten administrator Korda Mentha on Friday, Murdoch and Gordon submitted the bid via their respective investment companies Illyria and Birketu, which is $20 million more than their original bid of $35 million, and $23 million higher than the CBS transaction.
The letter said the new offer would be compelling given it has a “single implementation path” and “significantly lower transaction risk” compared to the first Murdoch-Gordon bid for Ten, which is all due to certain ownership restrictions being scrapped as part of the new media laws – a move the media moguls had hoped to happen before submitting their original bid.
Murdoch and Gordon have asked for Korda Mentha to put their revised offer to Ten’s creditors when they next meet tomorrow, and to “provide sufficient information and time to creditors to inform and consider their vote”.
Gordon was also seeking to delay tomorrow’s meeting of Ten creditors in the NSW Supreme Court, claiming that both of Korda Metha’s reports were missing vital information needed for creditors to make a proper decision on the broadcaster’s sale to CBS.
However, the application made by Gordon’s WIN Corporation was dismissed this morning in court.
