We are looking at the possibility of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp getting rid of all its newspapers. The News Of The World scandal and questions arising about those other News Corp assets show what a liability newspapers can be. The problems just keep piling up with the resignation of Murdoch's right hand man and head of Dow Jones Les Hinton. We can expect more resignations, this has taken a life of its own.
From a business perspective, getting rid of papers would be a sound move. In recent years, they have contributed relatively little to News Corp.'s profits. For Murdoch, the big money spinner is cable programming.
As this chart from The Economist shows, most of the company's profits is coming from cable network programming. Newspapers made up just 13% of the company's profits in the year to June 2010. Murdoch could sell or split off his newspapers to focus on building that part of the business that's making money and at the same time, jettisoning those liabilities.
Murdoch is a newspaper man first and a television and film mogul second but when it comes to money, he is no sentimentalist.
no comment untill now