As News Corp. reported nearly an 8% drop in quarterly income, CEO Rupert Murdoch said that he expects buy all or part of John Malone’s 18% stake in the company.
John Malone is the CEO of Liberty Media who bought increased its stake in News Corp. from 9% to 17% last year. Murdoch was not happy with this, as his family controls 30% of the votes. Murdoch plans to eventually turn the company over to his two sons.
The New York Times explains:
In recent months, representatives of the two companies have been discussing possible transactions in which News Corporation would regain some of Liberty’s shares, but the talks have not been fruitful.
Mr. Murdoch’s comment about an impending resolution came in response to a question about whether News Corporation might initiate a share buyback. “We’re at a very sensitive point in our negotiations” with Liberty Media, he said. “I don’t want to go into them at the moment.”
As for the company’s 8% income decline, higher expenses related to Fox’s Super Bowl programming, as well as cable restructuring costs were taken into consideration.
“Our third quarter results were led by the strong performances of our filmed entertainment and cable network programming segments and was achieved despite a weaker performance at television,” said Murdoch. “While the television segment was down year-on-year, reflecting higher programming costs and the soft advertising marketplace in the US, our stations generated record market share and the broadcast network, on the heels of its victory during the February sweeps, is poised to win the broadcast season ratings race for the first time in its history.”
Murdoch said that financial and operational momentum is gaining and that the company is confident that it will achieve its targets for the year.
Chris is a staff writer for murdok. Visit murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
