OFCOM scrutiny raises stakes for News Corp investors

Asked by Robert Jay, counsel to the Leveson inquiry, whether he ever told his newspaper editors to pursue stories which promoted his other business interests, Rupert Murdoch was quick with his reply: “I don’t have any other business interests.” The remark might have surprised investors in News Corp, a $48 billion collection of television channels and satellite broadcasters in which newspapers now play a marginal financial role. Print went from 90 percent of News Corp’s operating income in 1980 to 11 percent in 2010. It was one exchange in a morning of back-and-forth that left Murdoch looking tired and testy. But behind the theatre lay serious questions about the impact of this week’s revelations on far bigger business interests than Fleet Street’s disgraced tabloids.