The Sun losses balloon as Covid hits Murdoch’s newspaper empire June 11, 2021 Losses at the Sun newspapers tripled last year as the outbreak of the pandemic took its toll on Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes the Sun and the Sun on Sunday, posted a pre-tax loss of £201m in the year to 28 June 2020 — three times the £68m loss posted [...]
Rupert Murdoch ditches plans for ‘commercially unviable’ TV channel April 27, 2021 Rupert Murdoch’s News UK empire has scrapped plans to launch a TV news channel after a review found the project was “not commercially viable”. News UK, which owns the Times and Sun newspapers, had been developing plans to regain a footing in the TV market with a new channel focused on delivering news programming via [...]
Flutter hits back at Rupert Murdoch in row over US betting firm Fan Duel April 7, 2021 Gambling giant Flutter has hit back at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox in a legal row over a US sports betting firm, accusing the media mogul of trying to take a stake in the company at a cut-price rate. Fox Corporation last night filed a lawsuit against Flutter, which owns brands such as Paddy Power and Betfair, [...]
Johnny Depp loses bid to appeal ‘wife beater’ libel ruling March 25, 2021 Johnny Depp has been refused permission to appeal a High Court ruling that he violently assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard during their tumultuous relationship. In November a High Court judge ruled against Depp after he sued the Sun newspaper for libel over an article that labelled him a “wife beater”. Lawyers for the Hollywood actor [...]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp inks Facebook deal in Australia after row March 16, 2021 Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has signed a licensing deal with Facebook in Australia, marking an end to a dispute that saw the social media site instigate a news blackout in the country. The publishing group said it has reached a three-year agreement with Facebook to provide news and information to millions of users in the [...]
Screenshot: Does the UK media have a racism problem? March 12, 2021 This week: **Media Moment of the Week: GMB gets a new frontman **Does the UK media have a racism problem? **Deliveroo’s IPO giveaway; BT gets in a bind Media Moment of the Week: GMB gets a new frontman What a week it’s been for ITV. In the space of 24 hours it racked up bumper [...]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp strikes news partnership deal with Google February 17, 2021 Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has inked a three-year deal with Google that will see the US tech giant pay to use the publisher’s news content. New Corp, which owns titles such as the Times, the Sun and the Wall Street Journal, said it will provide “trusted journalism from its news sites around the world in [...]
Screenshot: Will Sunak save music festival season? January 8, 2021 A weekly column from City A.M. bringing you all the biggest stories and trends in technology, media and telecoms This week **Media Moment of the Week: Reporting from the ruins of democracy **A rallying cry to save music festivals **Youtube, Talk Radio and the quagmire of online regulation Media Moment of the Week I usually [...]
Rupert Murdoch and Sir Ian McKellen among latest to receive Pfizer vaccine December 18, 2020 Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has joined other high-profile figures receiving the Pfizer vaccine. The 89-year-old received the first of two doses at a facility near his home in Henley, where he has been isolating for a number of months. News UK confirmed to City A.M. that he received the vaccine at his local GP’s surgery [...]
Bertelsmann snaps up Simon & Schuster in $2.2bn deal November 25, 2020 The German media group behind Penguin Random House has acquired US publisher Simon & Schuster for $2.2bn (£1.6bn). Bertelsmann today confirmed it had secured the deal with owner Viacom CBS following a closely-fought bidding war. The takeover cements Bertelsmann’s position as the world’s largest book publisher, and strengthens its footprint in the US — its [...]