The media ringleader for the right wing of the world crashes again. Let me guess...tax cuts! Oh sorry, that wasn't the answer? Oh well, I guess the right wingers haven't quite figured out how to make a profit in a tough business climate but that's not really a surprise since they ushered in this era in the first place. Gosh, I hope they're OK and didn't gamble too much with credit to make flashy purchases. Somebody should have warned people about those bad business practices that the GOP rolled out.
News Corp., the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, slashed its fiscal 2009 profit forecast a second time after slumping advertising and a writedown led to the first loss in 13 quarters.
Operating income will fall about 30 percent in the year ending in June, more than a November forecast of a percentage drop in the “low to mid teens,” the New York-based company said today on its earnings conference call.
“The downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought,” Chief Executive Officer Murdoch said in a statement. The company is implementing “rigorous cost-cutting,” including “major” expense reductions at local TVs, he said on the call.
The global recession is reducing ad sales at News Corp.’s Fox TV stations and newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, bought by Murdoch in December 2007 as part of the $5.2 billion acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. Operating income slumped 8.7 percent at the newspaper unit and 93 percent at the TV stations.
The company recorded an impairment charge of $8.4 billion before taxes in fiscal second quarter to reflect the declining value of its TV, newspaper and other assets. Excluding the impairment, profit fell to 12 cents a share. Analysts projected 19 cents, the average of 19 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
