Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. confirms possible two-way split
Rupert Murdoch and his behemoth parent company News Corp. confirm that a possible shake-up is in the works, with the media conglomerate exploring the idea of splitting into two publicly traded companies.
Rupert Murdoch, chief of News Corp. rolled out sweeping changes in Australia on Wednesday, including job cuts and shrinking the number of its divisions from 19 to five, as well as a possible two-way split for the conglomerate.
Daniel Munoz/Reuters
New York
Rupert Murdoch's News聽Corp. confirms that it is considering splitting into two publicly traded companies.
The media conglomerate did not specify Tuesday which businesses each company would contain. The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that a split would put the entertainment arm, including the 20th Century Fox film business and the Fox TV networks, into a separate company from News聽Corp.'s newspaper and book publishing businesses.
News聽Corp.'s entertainment business accounted for about 75 percent of the company's revenue in the first three months of the year.
The Wall Street Journal is owned by News聽Corp.
News聽Corp. shares are up nearly 8 percent in morning trading, touching a new 52-week high.