Grim news for Murdoch : $6.4 billion loss

[Swagman]

Source: smh.com.au

Grim news for Murdoch
by Miriam Steffens
February 6, 2009 - 8:54AM
Rupert Murdoch's global empire has reported a massive $US6.4 billion ($9.8 billion) net loss for the second quarter as it was hit by the downturn in advertising demand and booked an $US8.4 billion pretax write-down of the value of its television stations, newspapers and other businesses.

The result, which compared to a profit of $US832 million the year before, was a "direct reflection of the grim economic climate,'' Mr Murdoch said. "While we anticipated a weakening, the downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought.''

News Corp was "implementing rigorous cost cutting across all operations and reducing head count where appropriate,'' he said.

Its operating results declined from a $US1.4 billion profit last year to a loss of $US7.6 billion.

Operating earnings excluding the multi-billion dollar asset write-down slumped 42% to $US818 million in the quarter, with falling earnings from the company's film, television and newspaper divisions offsetting a double-digit percentage gain from its subscription television services.

http://business.smh.com.au/business/grim-news-for-murdoch-20090206-7z74.html



Rupert & Wendi Murdoch arrive at last night's American Australian Assoc. dinner in Sydney to honour Frank Lowy, owner of the world's largest shopping centre chain Westfield and Australia's richest man. photo by Swagman


Read more: http://business.smh.com.au/business/grim-news-for-murdoch-20090206-7z74.html

[hatrack]

1. Freakin' TRAGIC, I tell you!

:rofl:

[Renew Deal]

16. We need to be cautious.

No matter how much I dislike fox and the newscorp family, we have to remember that they employ a lot of people including thousands of NYers.

[JayMusgrove]

31. The Mafia employs thousands of people, too, or used to.

Do we have to be careful when adults knowingly and freely take a job with a lord of slime and filth and lies and an agenda against the political interests of hard working Americans? I feel no sympathy for people that wound up working for Bill O or Sean.

[IsItJustMe]

34. Excellent point.

[no limit]

59. Yes, because most people that are just trying to get by really give a shit about the politics of it

:eyes:

The mafia was an illegal enterprise; as immoral as newscorp is what they do is still legal.

[begin_within]

2. The more you have, the more you have to lose...

[BlueCaliDem]

3. There IS a God! Wooo-hoooo! Keep on keepin' on with them losses! n/t

[jpak]

4. His lies have been devalued - poor widdle guy

:rofl:

[YOY]

5. I'll be happy when he's a pauper.

Never happen.

[sutz12]

6. Couldn't happen to a nicer POS. Schadenfreude rules.

:)

[damntexdem]

7. OH, the poor baby!

And we complain about our troubles! Now who among us can match the magnitude of his losses? Bwahahahaha!

[Renew Deal]

15. Yes, really funny that thousands of NYers are going to be unemployed.

Newscorp has lots of employees in NYC. I know. Ha ha ha. F*** 'em right?

[aintitfunny]

8. Oh that is too tragic.

and about time!

[kestrel91316]

9. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[City Lights]

10. What a shame!

:rofl:

:party: :beer:

:nopity:

[Piewhacket]

11. awww... so sad. someone please bail him out...

naked at 10,000 feet.

[FiveGoodMen]

52. !

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Hannah Bell]

12. Bull - when asset values are deflating, paper "losses" are irrelevant.

More to the point is how much debt you hold backed by those deflating assets & how much everyone else is losing.

Bill Gates "lost a bunch" of $ too, but I read he's back in #1 place on the world's richest list.

My guess - rupe's just fine, & the papers print these stories about all the richest folks losing $$ so the peons think everybody's "sacrificing".

but they're not.

[Lucky Luciano]

48. No way - paper losses are highly relevant...especially if you margin

your holdings to lever up....I am unaware of Murdoch doing this, but if so, it will magnify his losses and cause a margin call. NWS stock has been at this level recently and did not cause a forced sale of his stock so I do not expect that he is overlevered. Too bad.

[Hannah Bell]

56. if you margin your holdings to lever up = take on debt. which is what i said, right?

& apparently he's *not* overleveraged, so it doesn't matter that he lost x billion on paper if most of his peers lost x+1 billion.

$ is relative, & murdoch's apparently in no danger of losing assets or going on the street.

unlike the folks he & his peers stole from.

[SpiralHawk]

13. The putrid fruit of republiconomics

bites him in his own propagadistic republicon ass...

[truthisfreedom]

14. Dude, you spent years poking holes in the boat. DId that small amount of happiness you derived from

the Democratic Party's misery somehow balance out the near-total loss of your fortune?

[HopeHoops]

17. Dang - I guess Rupert will have to cut down on his daily hooker allowance.

[maddezmom]

18. News Corp. Posts First Quarterly Loss in 3 Years on Ad Slump

Source: Bloomberg

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp., the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, posted its first loss in 13 quarters as newspapers and local TV earnings slumped and it wrote down the value of some assets.

The net loss of $6.42 billion, or $2.45 a share, compared with profit of $832 million, or 27 cents, a year ago, the New York-based company said today in a statement distributed by Business Wire. Sales dropped 8.4 percent to $7.87 billion in the fiscal second-quarter ended Dec. 31, missing the $8.38 billion average of 15 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The global recession is slashing 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. Newspaper operating income slumped 8.7 percent, while TV stations plunged 93 percent.

“While we anticipated a weakening, the downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought,” Chief Executive Officer Murdoch said in the statement. The company is implementing “rigorous cost-cutting” and eliminating jobs, he said.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=am8BHzAKxTBQ&refer=us

[Hawkeye-X]

19. Here's hoping that News Corp will start a fire sale..

starting with WSJ, Faux to the liberals!

:woohoo:

[Idealism]

20. God knows where those organizations have been

They may have virii!

[hadrons]

21. News Corp. post loss due to economic policies they supported

LOL ... except that old Rup will just lay-off more of his employees

[dgibby]

42. Hopefully, he'll start with Hannity and Bill O.

[AndyTiedye]

22. A Tiny Violin for Faux et al

:nopity:

[Still Sensible]

23. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of assholes

if you ask me.

[Lucky Luciano]

24. The purchase of Dow Jones is crushing him!

He overpaid bigtime for that! Now he can sell it back to the Bancrofts for less than a billion after buying it for $5.2B. The Bancrofts resisted selling to him, but succumbed due to the enormously ridiculous premium Murdoch offered...now maybe they can bid for DJ to get it back from Rupert at a substantia discount! HAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAAAAA!

[blueclown]

25. My heart breaks for Murdoch.

How will he live?

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[shaniqua6392]

26. That is the best news I have heard since Obama was elected!!

Ha! Ha! Ha! A bunch of Repukes just lost a lot of money. :applause:

[edbermac]

27. I wonder how Bill-O will spin this.

He's always mouthing off about how the NY Times or MSNBC or Air America is losing money because people are turned off by their 'radical liberal agendas'.

Hey Bill, think FAUX is tanking because of its 'radical conservative agendas'? Hmmmm?

[Hydra]

28. So the rot is finally reaching the top

Too bad their only thought is: "Cut the Peons!"

[glitch]

29. Nevermind, I am sure some of those bailout (soon to be) trillions will find a way into his pocket.

He'll be okay financially but he'll never not be an asshole. Money can't fix asshole.

[Dr.Phool]

39. Faux Bank?

[glitch]

53. Who knows?

They don't have to say where the money goes, do they?

[Deja Q]

30. Well, how did he build his empire? Vapid television! He needs to push that envelope some more...

Trouble is, he pushed the envelope to the shredder and hit the "on" button. FOX broadcasting network has been devoid of anything remotely interesting for years; "Firefly" and "Futurama" being only the modern things worth mentioning and we know how those turned out. Not vapid enough for the audiences.

[Lucky Luciano]

49. Hey now...Family Guy rules! nt

[vinylsolution]

32. A loss on that scale might be too much....

.... for even the Rev. Moon to bailout.

Republicans ensured that no one has any money left to buy drugs any more.

Bullets in both feet, I think.

[pjt7]

33. karma is

making a comeback

[loudsue]

35. May he soon rot in hell....

:bounce: :applause:

That is one evil evil evil man. May he lose everything he has tarnished with his deranged mind.

[Betty]

36. reap what you sow

ASSHOLE.

[Optical.Catalyst]

37. Less free cash to forward his conservative agenda

He news organization might have to do some honest reporting to survive rather than just frame up events to support the Republicans.

[DallasNE]

38. So, There Is A Consequence

To be reckoned with as a result of the policies Murdoch has so strongly supported. The tears are crocodile for Murdoch but real for the rest of us that are taken down with him.

[BumRushDaShow]

40. So where is the Sludge screaming siren headline about this?

:shrug:

:rofl:

[SoCalDem]

41. Those poor anchorettes... gonna mean cutbacks for them..less clothing maybe..or...

[mmarsh]

43. Just shows you, Economic Depressions are not completely bad...

[dgibby]

44. If there's a God, he had it all invested with Bernie Madoff.

[Lucky Luciano]

47. Haha...we can only hope that he margined his

NWS holdings to invest in Madoff and that he gets a massive margin call forcing him to liquidate his NWS shares! Sort of like what happened to Aubrey McClendon the CEO of CHK (Chesapeake Energy)!

[Ticonderoga]

45. "we have to remember that they employ a lot of people"

Well if you want to refer to those scumbags on fox as "people", all I can say is ....whatever.

[whistle]

46. Grim news? What is so grim about Murdock enterprises loosing $6.4 billion?

...He'll be able to carry-back the losses over five years and the U.S. revenue department will cut him a check

[Lucky Luciano]

50. I think it is fair to say that he would prefer not to have his company

lose $6.4B due to $8B in writedowns. If only NWS never makes a dime again - then those tax assets you speak of will have to get written down too if the IRS thinks they will not get used!! :bounce:

[CreekDog]

51. I guess he's just plain filthy now

:eyes:

[KakistocracyHater]

54. Murdoch-where's MacGyver when you need him?

(((((((((*)))))))))))

[llmart]

55. He deserves to lose more than that......

so the rightwing noise machines go off the air.

[Thor_MN]

57. Wake me up when he can't pay his mortgage

until then who gives a rat's ass about that piece of shit?

[ronnie624]

58. I was hoping to see that people were wising up

and turning away in droves from his filthy brand of propaganda. How disappointing to see that such is not the case.