In this Thursday, June 14, 2018, file photo shows the 21st Century Fox logo outside its New York office. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, FILE)
NEW YORK (AP) --
21st Century Fox will sell its remaining stake in British pay TV provider Sky to Comcast in the latest financial wrangling as Disney prepares to acquire Fox's entertainment assets.
Over the weekend, Comcast won a rare bidding auction for 61 percent of Sky offering 17.28 pounds per share, almost 30 billion pounds ($39 billion). Fox will sell its 39 percent stake to for 11.6 billion pounds ($15.25 billion).
Last December a bidding war between Walt Disney Co. and Comcast began over Fox's entertainment assets. Walt Disney Co. prevailed and is in the process acquiring Fox. Comcast dropped out of that contest to focus on its acquisition of Sky.
Disney says the sale will significantly reduce the amount of debt it is taking on by acquiring Fox's entertainment assets.
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This combination of 2017-2022 photos shows the logos of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on mobile devices. On Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, Seattle Public Schools filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, suing the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth. (AP Photo, File)
A top court in France on Friday struck down a law banning children under 15 from using social media, saying it infringes on fundamental freedoms.
The Constitutional Council ruled that provisions in the ban "disproportionately infringe freedom of expression and communication" and haven't provided legal guarantees to ensure those rights, according to a press release summarizing the decision.
France last month became the first country in the European Union to pass a blanket ban on the platforms amid rising worldwide concerns about the harmful effects of digital content on kids.
Both chambers of the Parliament had voted in favor of the measure, which also banned the use of mobile phones in high schools.
The legislation was one of the final major measures adopted under French President Emmanuel Macron's presidency before he leaves office next year. Macron wanted the law to take effect at the start of the new school year in September, but the bill faced a review to determine whether it complied with the French Constitution.
Responding to the decision, Macron said in a statement that he was fully determined to see the ban take effect by spring and has tasked Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu "with working as quickly as possible on a legally robust proposal that takes into account the decision of the Constitutional Council as well as the European legal framework."
"On this basis, it will be up to the President of the Republic, the Government, and Parliament to determine the means and mechanisms needed to protect our children from social media by the end of the current term of office," he added.
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