News Corporation takeover bid for BSkyB the deal, the proposal was referred to Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for culture, media and sport. Hunt initially elected not to refer to the deal to the Competition Commission, announcing on 3 March 2011 that he intended to accept a series of undertakings given by News Corporation, paving the way for the deal to be approved. The undertakings would have led to Sky News being severed from BSkyB. On 23 June it was reported that News Corp had reached an agreement with Ofcom to approve the takeover, on the basis of Sky News becoming a separate company. By
News Corp relating to news events from social networking services, for $25 million, marking News Corp's first acquisition since the split. Robert Thomson stated that the service had "become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content", and that with the purchase, News Corp would "define the opportunities that the digital landscape presents, rather than simply adapt to them." On May 2, 2014, News Corp acquired romance novel publisher Harlequin Enterprises from Torstar for $415 million. The deal closed on August 1; it is now operated as a subsidiary of News