Fox Corporation Plots Acquisition of Australian Operator Tabcorp

March 19, 2021 Andrej Vidovic

US media conglomerate, Fox Corporation, owned by the Murdoch family and billionaire Lachlan Murdoch has been working on purchasing parts of Tabcorp, SX-listed gaming operator from Australia.

The LA-headquartered company has ed a trademark for the betting arm FOXbet in Australia, which signals that the company is plotting an offensive on the betting industry of Australia.

An Interest by a Pioneer

Sources from the gambling industry say that, despite the talks are confidential, Murdoch – that has already acquired a significant wealth from investing into US wagering market – is looking at potential partnerships with Australia’s gambling brands.

According to same sources, Murdoch was working behind the scenes with the US investment fund on Tabcorp’s bookmaking and media division deals.

A potential deal involves the likes of bookmaker Matthew Tripp, which is considered one of the heavyweights in its own right. Tripp, so far, has not made any comments on this.

There is yet no official approach to Tabcorp, so no guarantee that the deal will happen exists at this moment.

More Bids

Fox Company established FoxBET, with The Stars Group in 2019. Its trademark was given an approval last October, according to Australian .

At least two offers for its wagering and media business is being wagered by Tabcorp, by Ladbrokes owned Entain and US equity form Apollo.

It is not yet clear of Tabcorp, which is worth $10 billion, will move towards a formal sale process.

Tripp was being linked with the third bid for Tabcorp, although other of his consortium have not yet been identified. Tripp is one of pioneers of Australia’s online betting industry, as he’s been behind the market leader Sportsbet’s success.

Fox’s shares were at the record high on Tuesday, as they valued the business at $25.4 billion. Murdoch’s investments into wagering have boosted the market value of the company by about $US5 billion.

Source:

“Lachlan Murdoch’s Fox Corp circles Tabcorp”, smh.com.au, March 17, 2021.