News Corp confirms a restructure is on the cards

News Corporation has issued a statement confirming that is is “considering a restructuring to separate its business into two distinct publicly traded companies”.

Earlier today, the Wall Street Journal, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, reported that the TV and entertainment businesses would be separated from publishing.

Since then, shares in News Corp have risen 2.4% in Australia.

The split would put the 39% stake in BSkyB in a separate company from its UK newspapers business News International.

The publishing business would be the smaller of the two, representing around 25% of current News Corp revenues and 10% of profits, according to the BBC’s business editor Robert Peston.

The Murdoch family, which has 40% of the voting shares, would retain control of both.