Of all the news post the November 4 elections the news that Rupert Murdoch is falling on tough times seems proper. The company reported a 30% drop in profits while shares have fallen by up to 12% in todays trading in Europe and a drop of 22% in Australia.
UPDATE:
On tonights lead KO teases the losses at News Corp as todays "Worst Persons".
Whot!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Earlier today News Corp posted a notice that they expected major losses well into 2009 due to a decrease in viewership/circulation in its Fox affiliate & newspaper businesses and the corresponding ad revenue.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp cut its full-year forecast and posted a worse-than-expected 30 percent drop in quarterly profit because of falling TV advertising. Shares dived 12 percent. The international media conglomerate said display advertising at its Web holdings, including the MySpace social network, was beginning to weaken, and that it was instituting stringent cost-cutting measures company wide. "We're managing down headcount wherever appropriate," Murdoch told analysts on a conference call, adding his company had a good handle on its costs and "we'll ratchet them down accordingly." "The businesses across the board are challenged right now by weakening markets, and our group-wide results are further impacted by progressively weak foreign currencies when translating these to U.S. dollars," he said.
News Corp's assets include: the Fox TV network, 20th Century Fox movie studio, BSkyB and The Wall Street Journal.
We did learn that Murdoch plans to "streamline" operations at his two major New York newspaper operations, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Daily Post.
Murdoch did not provide many details on the company's cost cutting, but said one example was the merging of back-office operations of his two high-profile New York holdings, The Wall Street Journal and tabloid daily the New York Post.
He also plans to close 10 of the 17 U.S. printing plants that produce the Journal.
http://rds.yahoo.com/...
Here is the link to the numbers from Australia. This link includes additional market information.
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
Speaking for myself there is little news in the current tough economic climate that could bring a smile to my face, but this is some that managed to.
Regardless, the release indicated that Fox still enjoyed quality ad revenue from their cable operations.
News Corp's cable networks also did well, with operating income up 30 percent on ad revenue gains at the Fox News Channel and other networks.
Perhaps we now have a clearer picture as to why Bill-O is acting the way he is concerning the continuing collapse in his viewership in the 25-54 demo. With Murdoch's well earned reputation concerning failure to maintain profitability and income growth I imagine ole Bill-O could well be feeling the heat from senior management because of his failure to hold viewers which could well be leading to his recent rants regarding formal investigations of Nielson and their ratings. Quality timing coming on the heels of Bill-O's new contract. He must be getting told that it is time to produce or return to "Inside Edition" where he can huff n puff if they would have him that is.
The only thing I know is that America has spoken loudly regarding the bombastic style that Bill-O personifies and I can only hope that Countdown and Rachel continue to scoop the ratings while driving Rupert and his mouthpieces into financial failure.
WOW! The rec list. Thank folks.
UPDATE:
Here is a link to the article posted by the Pink Sheet, that's the Financial Times.
http://www.ft.com/...