News Corp shares hit two-year low
News Corp’s Australian shares sank to a two-year low on Monday as the UK phone hacking scandal fallout worsened, raising concerns that a $2bn bid for an Australian pay-tv firm involving News Corp could be derailed by political intervention.
Investors sent News Corp shares down as much as seven per cent in heavy volume after Rebekah Brooks, the former head of the company’s UK paper business, was arrested on Sunday and Metropolitan Police commissioner Paul Stephenson quit over the scandal.
“I think people would rather be cautious and mark it down rather than find a reason to defend it,” said Invesco senior investment manager Jackson Leung in Melbourne. Invesco is News Corp’s second-largest institutional shareholder with a 1.68 per cent stake, according to Thomson Reuters data.
News Corp shares ended down 4.1 per cent at A$14.16 after touching a low of A$13.65.