Fresh off the presses: Rupert Murdoch sees his boat sinking and so has taken to bailing.
News Corp plans $5bn share buyback
News Corp has announced plans to buy back $5bn (£3.2bn) of its shares in an attempt to halt the slide in value of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
The growing phone hacking scandal has sent News Corp's shares down 13% since the story first broke. The share price collapse had wiped more than $5bn off the market value of News Corp. The drop was most painfully felt by the Murdoch family, which with a 39.7% shareholding, saw its paper fortune reduced by more than $2bn.
News Corp shares opened up 3% in New York at $16.57 after the buyback, which trebled News Corp's earlier commitment to buy $1.8bn worth of shares, was announced.
The buyback comes the day after News Corp triggered a delay to its plan to buy the 61% of BSkyB it does not already own. The proposed takeover of Sky will be significantly delayed by a Competition Commission investigation into the proposed deal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
The best news I've heard all week, and it's been a week of great news!
And yet it gets even better! Murdoch and several of his 'associates' have been summoned to Parliament in the wake of the accusations and assertions of (ex) Prime Minister Gordon Brown this morning in an interview with the BBC where he accused News International of using convicted criminals with a history of violence to infiltrate his life and steal information about his family and peers.
Join me on the other side for more..
UK Lawmakers Summon Murdoch Over Phone Hacking
LONDON (CNN) -- British lawmakers investigating a phone hacking scandal Tuesday asked media baron Rupert Murdoch, his son James, and former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks to testify before them, hours after former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused their newspaper group of illegally obtaining private information about him.
"Senior executives" of Murdoch's British newspaper company "will cooperate," News International said in a statement, without specifying names.
If the Murdochs and Brooks do not answer the summons, parliament can compel them to do so, Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant -- who believes he is a hacking victim -- said on Twitter.
Brown accused Murdoch's newspapers of having "links with criminals" as he spoke to the BBC Tuesday about allegations the Sunday Times illegally obtained private information about him.
http://www.wapt.com/...
Murdoch summoned by British MPs
British lawmakers have summoned Rupert Murdoch and his top executives for questioning in a dramatic new turn in the phone hacking row, as police accused his newspapers of blocking their investigations.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown also piled pressure on Murdoch's media empire, accusing it of hiring "criminals" to obtain his private documents and suggesting it used illegal methods to break the news of his son's illness.
The government meanwhile said it would back a parliamentary motion by the opposition Labour party on Wednesday calling on Murdoch to drop his controversial bid for control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
Brown's claims are the first to explicitly drag other newspapers within News International, Murdoch's British newspaper operation, into the long-running scandal which killed off the News of the World tabloid at the weekend.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/...
Unlike the US system, the UK system has the reach to be Thumb to Tack.
News Corp. approves $5-billion stock buyback
With its stock price being hammered by investors in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closing of its News of the World tabloid, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. approved a stock repurchase program totaling $5 billion.
The move comes after four days of stock declines and a loss of more than $7 billion in market value to News Corp., a global media conglomerate with annual revenues of close to $33 billion. News Corp. stock closed at $16.10 Monday, a six-month low. In trading early Tuesday, the stock was up slightly to $16.41.
The stock buyback actually increases an existing program that still had $1.8 billion remaining under the current plan.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/...
Music to my ears. Bail you bastard! BAIL!
SINK EVERY DAMNED THING YOU HAVE IN TO IT!
Thanks for taking the time to read my Diary :¬)
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