RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And we reported, yesterday, that Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate News Corp. was considering splitting itself into two separate companies. The company's board of directors approved a split last night.
The unanimous decision was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, a newspaper owned by News Corp. The journal, along with other News Corp papers, like The Sun and The New York Post, will form one company. It will also include book publisher Harper Collins. The second company will be made up of groups including Fox Searchlight and the Fox News Channel.
The move is meant to separate the more profitable broadcast and entertainment based division from the publishing division. The hacking and corruption scandal of last year has tainted News Corp, and a decline in print advertising has contributed to lower profits in recent years.
Analysts report that the entertainment division will experience higher profit margins without the publishing sector. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.