General Motors Corp., Hughes Electronics Corp. and News Corp. didn’t waste any time after receiving Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice approval of their deal.
The three companies announced Monday that they have successfully completed the split-off of DirecTV Inc. parent Hughes from GM and the acquisition by News Corp. of 34% of Hughes’ outstanding common stock.
GM split off Hughes by distributing Hughes common stock to holders of GM class-H common stock in exchange for shares they owned. Simultaneously, GM sold its 19.8% economic interest in Hughes to News Corp. in exchange for cash and News Corp. preferred American depositary shares.
News Corp. then acquired an additional 14.2% of the outstanding shares of Hughes common stock from the former GM class-H common stockholders in exchange for News Corp. preferred ADSs.
The FCC and the DOJ cleared the deal late Friday.
