News Corp posts 2bn loss
RUPERT MURDOCH’S News Corporation slumped to a $3.4bn (£2bn) loss for the year to the end of June as a combination of plunging advertising sales, impairment charges and online losses hit the media giant.
The business – which owns most of BSkyB, as well as 20th Century Fox, the New York Post, the Sun and MySpace – said it suffered $8.9bn of writedowns related to a drop in the value of its assets. Last year the firm made a $5.4bn profit.
Chairman and chief executive Murdoch said: “Our financial performance clearly reflects the weak economic environment that we confronted throughout the year.”
But Murdoch added that the worst of the recession may be behind the media sector. In recent weeks some publishers and local TV broadcasters have echoed his views and said the advertising decline is easing.