News Corp officially splits in two

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corporation, has officially split into two separate companies.

The corporation's more profitable entertainment arm, which includes a Hollywood film studio, is being spun off under the name 21st Century Fox.

The publishing arm, which includes the Sun and the Times in the UK, and the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, will retain the News Corp name.

Mr Murdoch says the move will unlock value for shareholders.

Its publishing wing made a $2.1bn (£1.3bn) loss in the last financial year.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23104822

[MADem]

2. Rupert's marriage to his latest wife, Wendy, has split in two, too... nt

[liberalmike27]

11. Hopefully

This will allow them to make more merciless fun of FOX News, on shows like the Simpson's.


"FOX, not racist, but #1 with Racists." Remember that slogan, on the side of a news chopper in the Simpson's, that was changed for all of the reruns? And there have been others, hilarious shots at FOX.

[MADem]

20. I need to watch more Simpsons...! nt

[Nanjing to Seoul]

3. here's hoping news corp goes bankrupt

[Pab Sungenis]

9. Sadly, this makes sure that won't happen.

When this kind of thing happens, it usually means that they're going to saddle one of the spin-off companies with all the bad debt and all the unprofitable parts. Then they bankrupt that spun-off company a year or so later, keeping the profitable divisions out of the reorganization/liquidation and getting them out of debt scot free.

[midnight]

10. Very clever bunch....

[DallasNE]

18. Right, Meaning News Corp Goes Bankrupt

And 21st Century Fox survives with Fox News now firmly in the entertainment division. New Corp is a tarnished name now with everything that has happened in the UK.

Oh, and Mudoch will dump News Corp on his soon to be ex-wife while keeping the good businesses for himself.

[Mojorabbit]

21. That was my first thought also. nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. Just like a cancer cell.

[intaglio]

5. How long before he starts looking for a buyer

... for the newspapers

[dipsydoodle]

7. Not sure how profitable they are

The Sun is the UK's paper with the highest distribution. The Sun's profits are used to subsidise The Times. Sale of both together I suppose could occur. By the late 1970's our UK newpapers had already ceased selling for actual news content , the cover price had ceased to cover production and distribution costs and the residual attraction was general articles ,crossword puzzles whatever. Adverts provided the profit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_circulation

Similarly the Guardian, which is owned by a trust fund, has run at a loss for years and is subsidised by Autotrader which the trust also owns.

[marmar]

6. Why couldn't it just split, period?

[Liberalagogo]

8. Many moons from now...

[pink-o]

12. Trying to hide his assets from his wife during the divorce, maybe... N/t

[dipsydoodle]

13. The company split was announced a year ago.

.

[thelordofhell]

16. More like trying to shield the entertainment side from lawsuits

Have the print side go bankrupt after they get sued for phone tapping..........

[Dawson Leery]

14. Could the NY Post be near it's end?

[Rebellious Republican]

15. Something is up....

and you can bet it is only good for Murdoch.

[SemperEadem]

17. took them long enough

we've been in the 21st century for 13 years now...

[TeamPooka]

19. No more awkward moments....

between Bill O'Reilly, Fox & Friends and the cast of GLEE at the office "holiday" party.