News International – in commercial terms the hacking scandal has had little if any impact
The hacking scandal in the UK has been very big news and ask most people about their views on News International, and probably most would have a negative view.
However, in strictly commercial terms the News International and Murdoch business empire is alive and kicking and in fact is doing very well. The company’s PR may have been severely damaged but when it comes to making all the right business moves, the business is very well run. It is also easy to forget that the newspaper publishing arm is only a very small sector of what this company does, and publishing newspapers is now far less profitable than was once the case, bearing in mind the use of the internet now. The real downside for News International was the impact of the News of the World scandal on any prospect of the company increasing it’s stake in BSkyB which is a very profitable business.
In general terms, shares of News Corp have scaled new highs. In the immediate wake of the hacking scandal, News Corp lost nearly a quarter of its market capitalization, a whopping $11 billion but the shares have rallied strongly and are have recouped those losses and added some gains as analysts see that the company has a strong balance sheet and some very attractive and profitable businesses.