Murdoch withdraws BSkyB bid in hacking ‘firestorm’

MEDIA tycoon Rupert Murdoch yesterday withdrew News Corporation’s £8 billion bid to take over satellite broadcaster BSkyB in a dramatic response to the “firestorm” of public and political anger over phone hacking at the News of the World.

The move came shortly after Prime Minister David Cameron appointed senior judge Lord Justice Leveson to head a public inquiry into the hacking allegations and just hours before MPs backed a Labour motion condemning the takeover plans without a vote.

Mr Cameron said News Corp had made “the right decision” in dropping its bid to buy the 61% share in BSkyB which it did not already own, while his deputy Nick Clegg described it as “the decent and sensible thing to do”.