Rupert Murdoch has his own office at the Wall Street Journal, built within days of buying it, comments the New York Times. He is ‘as much old-fashioned press baron as 21st century multimedia mogul,’ the piece continues. “But, he faces a depressing reality: his lifelong fondness for newspapers has become a significant drag on the fortunes of his company, the News Corporation.”
News Corporation has posted losses of £4.4 billion for the last quarter of 2008. Rupert Murdoch has warned of job cuts with losses at News Corp’s UK newspapers expected to be announced next week.
In a brief aside on its site, FollowtheMedia comments that News Corps shares are down 20 per cent since New Years Eve, and then remarks that Rupert Murdoch should probably think about his mortality:
“There’s a big family celebration in Australia next month to honor his mother’s 100th birthday and all the talk now is that the 77 year-old former Australian now needs to get his corporate house in order and name a successor.”
The halt to Wapping renovation could be seen as a blow to News Corp’s other plans ‘to further integrate its media brands and create synergies where possible,’ reports paidContent:UK.
Speaking at the Monaco Media forum, Murdoch, who took over News Corp’s European and Asian business last year, said the industry had spent ‘not enough time thinking about customers’ daily lives’.
Cross-promotion between print and online had been successful for News International’s titles, he added.
The stressed state of the US economy is causing advertising budgets to shrink – causing News Corp to miss its ambitious online revenue target of one billion dollars by ten per cent, Rupert Murdoch said yesterday.
Reuters reported that the media tycoon claimed Fox Interactive Media – which runs the online part of his US empire, including MySpace – will however have “well over” $1 billion in revenue in the 2009 financial year.