Now the recession is biting into Rupert Murdoch's media giant. News Corp has reported a third-quarter drop in profits of nearly 30% despite higher revenues. The net profit of $515m (£329) in the three months to September was down from $732m (£467) in the same period last year.
Shares fell by 12% following Murdoch's warning that 2009 would prove to be "extremely challenging to the media sector", and that his company would suffer double-digit declines in operating income for this fiscal year, rather than the 4-6% growth previously forecast.
He said that News Corp will impose "stringent" cost-cutting measures across all its businesses. Does that mean cuts at Wapping? Yes it does. Murdoch spoke of "leaner operations" in Britain and Australia.
He spoke of the downturn in advertising in Britain as "strange" with The Sun and the News of the World largely holding up until this week. However, The Times and Sunday Times had suffered a "more considerable" fall led by "mono advertising and classifieds."
(Sources: paidContent/Financial Times/Daily Telegraph)
