News Corporation (NWS) is a diversified international media and entertainment company with operations in eight industry segments, comprising Filmed Entertainment, Television, Cable Network Programming, Direct Broadcast Satellite television, Magazines and Inserts, Newspapers, Book Publishing and Other. The company's activities are conducted principally in the U.S., Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Basin. News Corporation's principal subsidiaries are Fox Entertainment Group, Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox Television Holdings, Inc., Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports Networks, Inc., NDS Group plc, News America Marketing In-Store Services, Inc., News America Marketing FSI, Inc., News International Limited, News Limited, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., HarperCollins Publishers Limited, and STAR Group Limited. The company is based in Sydney, Australia, but changed its place of incorporation to the U.S. in late 2004, an event which had several benefits, including the immediate inclusion of NWS in the Standard and Poors 500.
The company's website is www.newscorp.com.
NOTE: News Corporation's (NWS) fiscal year ends on June 30th; fiscal references do not coincide with the calendar year end.
On July 16, 2007: News Corp. announced a tentative agreement to buy Dow Jones & Co. at its original offer price of $5 million and the agreement is supposed to be submitted to the Dow Jones board on July 17, 2007.
On July 28, 2007, News Corporation and NBC Universal appointed Jason Kilar, a key executive at Amazon.com, to Chief Executive Officer of the online video joint venture. Mr. Kilar joined the new company on July 9.
On June 21, 2007, NBC Universal and News Corp., entered into a joint venture to launch an Internet broadcaster.
On June 14, 2007, News Corp., plans to sell nine of its Fox-affiliated TV stations. The stations are generally in the smallest markets among News Corp.'s 35-station television group, including stations in Greensboro, N.C., Memphis, and Birmingham, Ala.
On May 30, 2007, NWS–NBC announced a deal for a new video site. News Corp. and NBC Universal said that they have signed five more content deals for their new online video venture including the ones with Sundance Channel and TV Guide. Under the terms of the deal each of the entertainment companies will supply original content to the new site on a non-exclusive basis.
On May 30, 2007, NWS announced it will acquire online photo/video services Photobucket and Flektor for an undisclosed sum. Photobucket is a photo- and video-sharing service while Flektor offers various Web-based tools that help users transform photos and videos into slideshows, postcards, and interactive presentations.
On May 9, 2007, News Corp. reported its 3Q07 earnings results, with revenue of $7,530.0 million, an increase of 21.5% y-o-y from 3Q06. Operating income was $1,239.0 million in 3Q07, an increase of 22.3% y-o-y from $1,011.0 million in 3Q06. Net Income in the quarter was $871.0 million, an increase of 6.0% y-o-y from $820.0 million in 3Q06. The company also said it would be ‘carbon neutral' across all of its businesses by 2010, putting a time frame on when it plans to cut energy usage.
These are the major issues to consider when assessing this stock,
according to analysts:
