Murdoch outgunned by $32bn bid for GM satellite arm

NEWS Rupert Murdoch's plans to add Hughes Electronics to his satellite empire could be scuppered as General Motors looks to be seriously considering a rival bid for its satellite division. An unsolicited $32bn offer for the business from EchoStar is likely to be given serious consideration, said GM chief financial officer John Devine. "If it's a serious proposal, and we think it is, we're going to take it very seriously," he told Reuters. Hughes is the world's largest VSAT satellite retailer, supplying more than half the market for VSAT terminals, according to a recent report from ComSys. The EchoStar deal could be blocked by the regulators, though, as an EchoStar-Hughes merger would control nearly 90 per cent of the satellite market. Hughes launched the first satellite internet service, DirecPC in 1995, and is still a leader in the field, though Israel-based Gilat Satellite Networks has a significant share of the market.