Murdoch's Sun, U.K.'s Biggest Paper for Decades, Now Worth Zero

[brooklynite]

Source: Bloomberg

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. wrote down the value of its once high-flying Sun title to zero, underscoring the dramatic decline in Britain’s newspaper industry.

The tabloid’s blend of gossip and right-wing political coverage has made it Britain’s most widely-read paper for more than four decades, until the rival Daily Mail claimed the title last year.

Its editors have struggled to carve out a place for the paper in a new world of online news -- trying a paywall model before abandoning it -- and attempting to move on from a phone hacking scandal that blew up a decade ago, damaging the Sun’s credibility as a campaigner for social causes.

News Corp. said its cash flow forecasts for the Sun led it to book an impairment of 84 million pounds ($119 million) in 2020, according to its accounts published Friday. The carrying value of its publishing rights and titles as of June 28 last year fell to zero from 112 million pounds in 2019.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-11/murdoch-s-sun-u-k-s-biggest-paper-for-decades-now-worth-zero

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[leftieNanner]

1. I hate for any newspaper to fail

But in this case I'll make an exception.

[regnaD kciN]

12. Couldn't happen to a more deserving rag...

#JFT96

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Now where will I go to see saucy lasses on page 6?

Full disclosure: I have no idea if the Sun is the paper that does that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. It was, but it was Page Three

And they stopped it as a daily feature some time ago.

It's not that it's closing, of course; Murdoch may be a businessman, but he also wants to keep his political platform open in the UK. Plus he still owns HarperCollins, and the opportunity to push their books won't have been acknowledged in the valuation (because they're not meant to do it).

[pecosbob]

3. I find it difficult to believe that one of Murdoch's papers ever 'campaigned for social causes'.

Over here typically his media outlets only spew hate, racism and violence.

[IronLionZion]

7. For RW social causes

they are on the side promoting hate, racism, and violence.

[quakerboy]

5. fine, im sure they will rush to take my offer of a shiny 2 pound coin for the whole lot

since its worth zero and all.

gotta love the way they can dodge around the truth with creative accounting.

[monkeyman1]

6. to me fox news not worth a plug nickel !!

[BigmanPigman]

8. Its best use is to wrap fish

or line the birdcage.

[GeoWilliam750]

11. In the wise words of Mike Royko

"No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in a Murdoch paper", and that "his goal is not quality journalism. His goal is vast power for Rupert Murdoch, political power".

[BigmanPigman]

13. I don't know who Royco is but I like the way he thinks.

[GeoWilliam750]

14. Mike Royko is well worth reading

He was probably the best columnist of the last 60 years, and although he died in 1997, his work is still highly readable - his are among the few books I have read twice. "Like I Was Saying" is a good start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Royko

He hated Murdoch back in the 1980s.

[LogicFirst]

9. He's still got Sky News in Australia. It's worse than Fox.

[rpannier]

10. Yes, Prime Minsiter sums up the Sun and its worth quite nicely

The Sun is the last of the papers it skewers and its pretty much on target -- the Sun never changed

[cinematicdiversions]

15. A classic always good for a laugh. (And still true after forty years) NT

[ck4829]

16. K&R

Last edited Tue Jun 29, 2021, 12:11 PM - Edit history (1)

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