Rupert Murdoch to face Wall Street analysts’ questions

News Corp boss likely to be quizzed on plans for succession – but queries on phone hacking ruled out on legal advice Rupert Murdoch will address Wall Street for the first time since the phone-hacking scandal escalated in the UK in a conference call with analysts to discuss News Corporation’s full-year results on Wednesday. It will be the first time US analysts have been able to quiz the News Corp boss since the scandal that has seen the closure of the News of the World and the end of his bid to take full control of profitable UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB. Insiders said he will make a prepared statement, but analysts will be warned that questions about allegations of phone hacking and illegal payments to police in the UK will not be accepted on the grounds they could prejudice a later trial. Sources said Murdoch’s statement will not be as contrite as the ones he made in July in London, when he declared his appearance before the Commons culture select committee was “the most humble day of my life”. He is however expected to be quizzed on succession plans and whether, at 80, the News Corp chairman and chief executive is willing to hand over the reins to trusted lieutenant Chase Carey, the deputy chairman, president and chief operating officer. He may also face questions about the future plans for his son James, who until recently was seen as his heir apparent and was due to move to New York to take over as deputy chief operating officer. The company announced earlier in August that Rupert’s daughter, Elisabeth, had decided not to take up a seat on the board. Wall Street investors will be most interested, however, to discoverMurdoch’s plans for the $12bn (£7.5bn) earmarked for News Corp’s purchase of the 61% of BSkyB it did not already own. Some $3.2bn of this has already been set aside for a share buyback scheme announced in the wake of News Corp’s withdrawal of the bid for the satellite broadcaster. It is Murdoch’s first conference call in a year and underlines the company’s determination to reassure US shareholders, alarmed by the scandal in the UK, that everything is back under control after the events of the past month. But it is a high-risk strategy as Murdoch, as could be seen at the parliamentary select committee, is prone to going off message. The results call, for the fourth quarter and the company’s full-year results for the 12 months to the end of June, will be preceded by a News Corp board meeting in Los Angeles on Tuesday Directors will updated on the internal investigation into the News of the World’s alleged payments to police and phone hacking. Murdoch is expected to set out a road map of potential landmines that face News Corp as police inquiries and civil actions over invasion of privacy continue, and Lord Leveson’s judicial inquiry into phone hacking and wider media practices gets under way in the autumn. News Corp’s internal investigation is being conducted with the help of Williams & Connolly, one of the most prestigious law firms in Washington. •

Posted by on August 9, 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.