Rupert Murdoch halts acquisition plans for Rightmove

REA Group, the Australian online property business majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, on Monday abandoned a takeover pursuit of British peer Rightmove, which rejected a latest proposal worth £6.2 billion ($8.3 billion).

"REA confirms that it does not intend to make... (a formal) offer for Rightmove," it said in a statement before a Monday deadline to make a firm bid or walk away under UK takeover rules.

REA chief executive Owen Wilson said his company had been "disappointed with the limited engagement from Rightmove that impeded our ability to make a firm offer within the timetable available."

"They had nothing to lose by engaging with us," he said.

  'Foolhardy to overpay'  

News Corp CEO Robert Thomson welcomed an end to the pursuit.

"We applaud REA's financial discipline as it is foolhardy to overpay for an asset, even if it patently had positive potential," he said.

"Financial discipline has been at the heart of the transformation of News Corp and our recent successful acquisitions for Dow Jones and HarperCollins reflect that core principle," Thomson added.

Rightmove's shares slid seven percent on the withdrawal, making the company the biggest faller on London's FTSE 100 index in afternoon deals.

The announcement came after Rightmove rejected four takeover proposals by REA. The final offer, made public Friday, was up from the previous non-binding bid totalling £6.1 billion.

Rightmove earlier Monday said that the latest proposition was "unattractive", undervaluing the British company and its prospects.

REA first made public its interest on September 2.

The initial takeover proposal was priced at £5.6 billion. There was no official figure given for the second bid.

Sector watchers had said that REA -- which runs property-listing websites in Australia, Asia and North America -- could have been attracted by the prospect of more interest-rate cuts in Britain that would lower mortgage costs for buyers.

Analysts added that plans launched by Britain's new Labour government for mass house building would have provided a further boost to Rightmove, which also lists properties for rent.

The takeover attempt came as Murdoch, 93, finds himself in the eye of a legal storm as several of his children seek to block him changing the terms of a family trust to ensure his favoured son Lachlan gains control of his sprawling media assets after his death.

Thomson praised Lachlan in News Corp's statement Monday.

"Thanks to Lachlan Murdoch's savvy investment in REA, digital property has become an important engine of growth at News Corp.

"We have no doubt that REA will continue to successfully expand...and are excited by their progress in India, where the company is now the market leader."