The decision to withdraw his offer came after the board of General Motors, which owns Hughes, failed to choose between two suitors: Murdoch's News Corporation and a competing bidder, Littleton, Colorado-based EchoStar Communications.

"We have no option but to withdraw immediately our fully negotiated and financed proposal," Murdoch said in a statement.

"Hughes would have been an excellent strategic fit for our global platforms, and we are disappointed with the board's inaction in the face of an as-yet unfinanced counter-proposal," Murdoch said.

"I am surprised that the board of GM did not share my vision and enthusiasm for what would have been a one-of-a-kind global multimedia company with superior growth prospects," the News Corporation president added.

The media mogul declared the deal he had pursued for more than a year to be over, but promised to continue "with renewed vigor and sharpened focus" efforts to expand his empire.

News Corporation, whose assets are close to 43 billion dollars, runs newspaper, magazine and publishing chains, as well as the Sky Global network, including satellite television services in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Latin America and the Pacific Basin.

The acquisition of Hughes Electronics, based in El Segundo, California, could have helped Murdoch reach several strategic and financial goals, according to business experts.

As the world's leading provider of digital television entertainment, broadband services and satellite-based private business networks, the corporation could have allowed him to consolidate his position on the US media market, particularly in its promising and fast-growing digital communications segment.

A Hughes subsidiary, DirecTV, serves one of every 10 US homes and is generating a steady cashflow even as much of the rest of the US economy suffers from stalled growth.

The entertainment provider netted 425,000 new subscribers in the third quarter of this year alone, reaping 1.3 billion dollars in revenue -- an 18-percent increase over the same period last year, Hughes Electronics reported.

As the United States ambled toward recession, Hughes' third-quarter revenues grew by a robust 24.6 percent, to 2.1 billion dollars.

Together with DirecTV, Hughes could have become a crown jewel in Murdoch's media empire, which includes the Fox Broadcasting Network, the all-news Fox News Channel, a CNN competitor, and the Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox.

But in early August, EchoStar, which owns six satellites enabling it to provide more than 500 channels of digital video, audio and data services, made a competing 32-billion-dollar offer, which included a stock swap and the assumption of nearly 1.9 billion dollars of Hughes debt.

"The GM board of directors now has the opportunity to deliver that enormous value to GM ... shareholders," said EchoStar Chairman and CEO Charles Ergen.

As a result, the General Motors board balked, unable to decide in favor of any of the bidders, according to company officials.

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