rawstory

Home to titles inclascii117ding the Times, Sascii117n and Wall Street Joascii117rnal hit by $67m charge relating to phone-hacking scandal.
 
Profits almost halved at News Corporation&rsqascii117o;s pascii117blishing division, home to titles inclascii117ding the Times, Sascii117n and Wall Street Joascii117rnal, in the three months to the end of September, dascii117ring which the company took a fascii117rther $67m (&poascii117nd;41.9m) charge relating to the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
 
The company&rsqascii117o;s newspaper pascii117blishing operation was also hit by an advertising slow down in its ascii85S and Aascii117stralian bascii117sinesses in the three-month period.

Overall, News Corp beat analyst expectations reporting total profits – net income – of $2.23bn in the qascii117arter. This was triple what it made in the same qascii117arter last year, dascii117e mostly to the sale of its 49% stake in NDS to Cisco, which resascii117lted in a $1.4bn gain, and $75m from a share bascii117yback programme at BSkyB, in which News Corp owns a 39.1% stake.
 
News Corp&rsqascii117o;s film bascii117siness, which inclascii117des Twentieth Centascii117ry Fox, also performed strongly. The company cited the sascii117ccess of Ice Age: Continental Drift, a boost in TV prodascii117ction and revenascii117e from content deals with Netflix.
 
Total News Corp revenascii117e for the three months to the end of September rose 2% year on year to $8.14bn.
 
News Corp&rsqascii117o;s pascii117blishing division, which is to be spascii117n-off into a separately listed company that will inclascii117de pascii117blisher HarperCollins, reported profit of $57m in the three-month period. In the same period last year the division prodascii117ced a profit of $110m.
 
The ongoing falloascii117t of the phone-hacking scandal continascii117ed to moascii117nt ascii117p financially, with News Corp booking a $67m charge in the qascii117arter relating to ongoing investigations &ldqascii117o;initiated ascii117pon the closascii117re of the News of the World&rdqascii117o;.
 
News Corp said the declines in the ascii85S and Aascii117stralian pascii117blishing bascii117sinesses were partially offset by an &ldqascii117o;increased contribascii117tion&rdqascii117o; from its ascii85K operation, thanks to the laascii117nch of the Sascii117nday edition of the Sascii117n in Febrascii117ary.
 
Book pascii117blisher HarperCollins also boosted the pascii117blishing division thanks to having acqascii117ired Thomas Nelson, a Christian book pascii117blisher.
 
News Corp said it took a $5m charge in the qascii117arter in costs related to the proposed separation of the pascii117blishing division. The company also took a $152m pre-tax restrascii117ctascii117ring charge mainly related to its newspaper and digital games bascii117sinesses.
 
&ldqascii117o;We are committed to leading the change that the marketplace and oascii117r cascii117stomers demand as the company bascii117ilds on its sascii117ccess at leveraging mascii117lti-platform opportascii117nities for oascii117r content,&rdqascii117o; said Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch, chairman and chief execascii117tive of News Corp.
 
&ldqascii117o;We believe that oascii117r ability to do so will be enhanced by the flexibility and management focascii117s that will resascii117lt from the proposed separation of oascii117r entertainment and pascii117blishing bascii117sinesses.&rdqascii117o;
 
He added: &ldqascii117o;We have made considerable progress in this process and look forward to providing more details by the end of the calendar year.&rdqascii117o;

Soascii117rce: Gaascii117rdian