ALEX BRUMMER: Fox carries on regardless… but what does the future hold

Hard to be surprised at the £656 million settlement the Murdoch-controlled Fox Corporation has reached with Dominion Voting Systems.

Fox clearly went too far in buying a Donald Trump-made story about electronic voting fraud in the 2020 election and may have opened up to a new settlement over a lawsuit brought by software vendor Smartmatic USA.

Fans of ‘Succession’ on Sky Atlantic will be fascinated by the current legal chaos and what the future holds for Fox when Rupert Murdoch, currently a playful 92-year-old, finally passes away.

But for now, Fox News and its most outspoken host Tucker Carlson seem reluctant to break away from the Trump brand, despite the former president’s legal isolation.

Watching Fox compared to its competitors MSNBC or CNN is like inhabiting different worlds. All channels are absolutely focused on domestic America and international events struggle to make a dent.

CNN puts more effort into it than others and they all agree that China, once considered a “friendly” economic rival, should now be condemned to utter obscurity. It’s the overall coverage that’s so bizarre.

CNN and MSNBC and their lineups of commentators are obsessed with the legal threats Trump faces over alleged financial irregularities in New York (including payments to porn stars).

They continually highlight what they consider to be more serious charges being prepared in Georgia for trying to influence an election count, as well as Trump’s alleged incitement to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Despite the drama of Trump’s indictment in New York, political commentators believe that if Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg had not attacked Trump, the financial differences would be little more than audit or regulatory breaches committed by the Securities. and Exchange are handled. Commission.

Nevertheless, we must be reminded that it was the Internal Revenue Service, not the FBI, that acted for mobster Al Capone.

Fox’s defense against Trump is to argue that Joe Biden is just as bad. There’s a never-ending gut ache about how, when Biden was vice president, his wayward son Hunter was a frequent visitor to the White House and a supposed influential peddler.

As for Biden, the classified documents found in his garage are seen as being as damaging to his re-election prospects as the Trump cache was to the former president.

Fox, for all its apparent partisanship, is a compelling viewing experience. The Right-Wing Agenda is an ongoing soap opera, giving it tremendous appeal to advertisers, subscribers, and streamers.

It remains a force of nature and clearly believes that an expensive settlement with Dominion is a price worth paying for not washing dirty linen in public.

Low tech

Glencore’s battle for Teck Resources is far from over.

Ivan Glasenberg may have been replaced as CEO by Gary Nagle, but as Mick ‘the miner’ Davis learned in 2013 when Glencore bought Xstrata, the London-listed company has a history of winning.

If Nagle is to get a Teck win, he’ll need the support of the Canadian Keevil family, who have a controlling interest.

Teck wants to do the splits himself and possibly find a buyer for his metallurgical coal interests.

Glencore searches the whole caboodle and deepens his interest in copper and nickel.

It offers the opportunity to do its own spin-off of profitable coal interests, allaying the concerns of climate change activists.

There are deep pockets. Currently, Glencore’s offer is worth £18.5bn, but JP Morgan analysts suggest a further £4bn is on the table. In most acquisitions, money ultimately speaks.

To start with

A bid stop is the takeover of Manchester United FC. Potential buyers seem spooked by the £4.8bn price, despite the value of a ubiquitous brand.

Instead, owners Joel and Avram Glazer are trying to hire buyout specialists, as Carlyle mentioned.

Good or bad, Chelsea is wholly owned by private equity and Real Madrid and Barcelona are on the brink of buying out firms.

There’s no shortage of credit for sports franchises with American football team Carolina Panthers changing hands this month for an eye-watering £4.8 billion.