News Corp takes a very prudent view

The big media business news this morning is Newscorp's results as the group unveiled $6.4bn quarterly loss and forecast a worse than expected 30 per cent drop in operating income this year.

The loss is at a result of a prudent Murdoch writing down $8.4b based on what it considers a deteriorating situation for its TV channels and reflecting the acquisition of the Wall Street journal.

Maybe these results will be seen as a benchmark for media companies as one of the more successful predicts a gloomy outlook.

According to Murdoch,

the company was acting “when things are bleakest” to cut costs and improve margins so that it would emerge stronger when markets turn. “I recognise that we may never return to record levels, but we do believe we can capture a large proportion of the advertising that does return

via FT.com

But with income down 42 per cent compared to the same time last year,the downturn for News Corp is already none too apparent