Rupert Murdoch has abandoned his resistance to splitting his $50bn media empire, agreeing to consider spinning off News Corp’s tarnished UK newspapers and other publishing assets from its Fox, Sky and Star entertainment brands.
Shares in the US group rose more than 6 per cent to a five-year high of $21.35 after it confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that it was “considering a restructuring to separate its business into two distinct publicly traded companies”.
The board has made no final decision, people briefed on the matter said, but it is in advanced discussions on a plan that would put newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, The Sun and The Australian into a new company with book publisher HarperCollins, a magazine inserts business and an education unit. That would leave television and film assets including the Fox News Channel, 20th century Fox film studio, the Fox broadcast network and investments in the Sky and Star pay-TV operations unburdened by less profitable publishing brands.