News Corp reports $3.4bn loss

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has reported a $3.4 billion (£2 billion) net loss in the year to 30 June.

Figures released today reveal that the media giant took $8.9 billion in writedowns on acquisitions, including a previously undisclosed $452 million charge in Q4 against the Fox Interactive Media division, which owns MySpace.

Profits at the company’s global newspaper division, which includes the Times and the Sun, fell 40% $466 million.

Advertising in the UK was down 18% in the fourth quarter, although this was an improvement on the 21% decline in Q3.

Earnings from cable network programming were up 31% to $1.67 billion. Profits at the group’s television division, including its US Fox stations, fell from $1.12 billion to $174 million.

Murdoch said: “The past year has been the most difficult in recent history, and our 2009 financial performance clearly reflects the weak economic environment that we confronted throughout the year.”

One way in which News Corp hopes to claw back revenues is by charging for access to its news websites. “Quality journalism is not cheap,” said Murdoch.

“The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites.”