Shareholders of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp have approved a plan to swap its stake in DirecTV and $550 million cash for Liberty Media's estimated $11 billion stake in the company.
Shareholders representing 99.76 per cent of outstanding shares voted to approve the deal, which ended a two-year battle with Liberty Media chairman John Malone in December.
Liberty quietly bought close to a 20 per cent voting stake in News Corp in 2004, a move that prompted Murdoch to enact an emergency "poison pill" to block a feared hostile takeover.
The deal transfers News Corp's controlling stake in the US satellite television provider DirecTV and marks Mr Murdoch's exit from the US satellite market.