News Corp income rises by 12% to $5bn as Murdoch defends empire

Veteran chairman insists on ethics and integrity Rupert Murdoch pledged to do “whatever is necessary” to prevent a repeat of the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of his News of the World newspaper, thrown his succession plans into chaos and left his company facing decades of legal woes. “There can be no doubt about our commitment to ethics and integrity,” said the chairman of News Corp. “I have run this company for more than 50 years,” Murdoch added as he announced strong results for his media empire. “The kind of behaviour that occurred in that newsroom has no place at News Corporation. It does not reflect the actions and beliefs of our more than 50,000 professional employees. I am personally determined to put things right when it comes to News of the World.” Murdoch’s comments came as News Corp announced a full-year operating income of $4.98bn (£3.08bn), compared with $4.46bn reported a year ago – a 12% increase driven in large part by the success of his television and cable network programming. The company reported a 22% drop in fourth-quarter earnings because of losses from the sale of its struggling social network Myspace. It made a $254m after-tax loss from the sale of Myspace. But strong results from its television assets, including the Fox TV network, beat analysts’ estimates. Its net income fell to $683m, or 26 cents a share, down from $875m, or 33 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 11% to $8.96 bn, helped by advertising sales and fees at Fox TV and its cable networks. Operating income at its cable network unit rose 12%, helped by a 23% rise in advertising revenue at its domestic channels and a 30% rise in affiliate fees at its international cable channels. Advertising at its Fox broadcast business also rose by 7%. Film profits rose 53% thanks to animation hit Rio, and home entertainment sales of Black Swan and The Chronicles of Narnia. This was the first results presentation that Murdoch has hosted for nearly a year and the first since his appearance before the parliamentary committee investigating the hacking scandal. He said the company did not yet have any idea what the financial bill to News Corp could be from potential legal action and fines. He said the company needed to “get to the bottom” of what happened: “Were there a dozen guilty people or two dozen?” Murdoch said: “While it has been a good quarter from a financial point of view, our company has faced challenges in recent weeks relating to our London tabloid, News of the World. We are acting decisively in the matter and will do whatever is necessary to prevent something like this from ever occurring again.” News Corp closed the News of the World last month as the revelations that its journalists had hacked into people’s phones, including the murdered teenager Milly Dowler, led to public outrage, a parliamentary inquiry at Westminster triggered a US investigation of possible abuses under US law. “It is important to note that there has been no material impact on our other operations,” he said. “Our broad, diverse group of businesses across the globe is extremely strong today. The drivers of our businesses are intact, our position is strong and our future is promising. “Our fundamental goals at News Corp are to produce sustained, meaningful value for shareholders, provide outstanding content and services to customers and consumers – and do it with integrity. These goals are interrelated and all three are critically important. And we will deliver.” Murdoch said he and Chase Carey, News Corp’s chief operating officer, had “full confidence” in James Murdoch, long seen as Murdoch’s heir apparent. James Murdoch is facing allegations that he mislead the parliamentary select committee. Murdoch also dismissed allegations that his independent board of directors was not independent. “That’s not true,” he said. Murdoch said the company had retained outside advice and evaluated its corporate governance practices and found no flaws. The News Corp boss, and largest shareholder, said he was disappointed that he had had to scrap plans for a full-takeover of satellite broadcaster BSkyB. News Corporation Media business News International Newspapers & magazines Newspapers Phone hacking BSkyB BSkyB Rupert Murdoch Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 11, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.