Murdoch Notes 20% Ad Revenue Cut, Could Go to 30% -- Says Not Interested in Buying 'NYT'

By: Joe Strupp Media mogul Rupert Murdoch told reporters Thursday he is not interested in buying The New York Times, according to Reuters.

"Speaking on a conference call after the company reported dismal second-quarter results, he said it might not be good for his image: 'I?ve got no desire to be an even bigger public enemy,'? a Reuters blog item stated. "This, of course, refers to the charge leveled at him from London to New York to Hong Kong that he uses the papers and other media that he owns to advance his personal business interests."

The blog item, from Robert MacMillan, also notes the comment is somewhat in contrast to Michael Wolff's recent book on the News Corp. chief, titled: "The Man Who Owns the News,? which says that Murdoch "would love to buy The New York Times. The only thing standing in his way is the Ochs-Sulzberger family which controls the Times."

Adds MacMillan: "If they?re anything like the Bancrofts, former controllers of Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, only an insane amount of money might persuade them to let go of the prized but struggling newspaper publisher. Or maybe Murdoch himself."

Murdoch, who also owns the New York Post, also reportedly hinted that the Times might go away if he keeps hands-off: ?I?ve got great faith. If we continue the way we?re going, we may even get lucky and not have so much competition at the end of it all.?

You can read the full transcript here:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/118935-news-corporation-f2q09-qtr-end-12-31-08-earnings-call-transcript?page=-1

Here is one exchange:

Michael Nathanson - Sanford Bernstein

Thanks, I want to ask Rupert for a second. It sounds like- as you say there been little fat at News Corp over the years. So, when you described the opportunity to take out costs, which businesses do you think you have the best opportunities to take out cost and how big will that savings be?

Rupert Murdoch

We are taking them out everywhere. I mean, I am at Australia at the moment and the local management is in the process of combining all their back offices between the States and (Inaudible). There are many different processes we are doing. That goes right across the company, which is going to save a lot of people and a lot of money. And there are little things, the Wall Street Journal, there are so many numerous small things. We are combining in the back office, the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, which will eventually save about $7 million, certainly $4.5 million in the immediate future. We have also negotiated -- nearly renegotiated nearly all of our delivery contractors across the whole of United States with a saving just starting now of $5 million a year. And it goes on and on. It seems like we are chiseling away at small things, but they do add up to a lot of money.
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And another:

Rupert Murdoch

I am extremely happy with all of our newspapers. I think that they are good newspapers they are increasing their share of market. There is never been a greater appetite for news in the community. And we will be able to capitalize on that pretty well. I have got great faith and if we continue the way we are going, we may even get lucky by not having so much competition at the end of at all. But it's --we are in good shape in the newspapers. On the television stations we are doing everything we can.

We are in a process of major cost cutting, which will take place over the next 12 months. And the big thing about the local, there will always be room for good local stations supplying good local news. That is what the demand is for, and that is what we are expanding, and, which incidentally is cheaper programming to do, than buying a lot of syndicated material.

But will we return to the big profits of two years ago? I don't know. But we will certainly be seeing much better profits than we?re seeing at this moment....

We would add about -- Dave can correct me -- about 20% I think in revenue in the first half, certainly in this quarter we?re looking at, and we are expecting and I think it may prove pessimistic, it may not, to be down 30% in the second half of the fiscal year. And that is built into our forecast. But the big thing that really is killing us is the lack of automobile advertising. In local stations, automobile advertising was at least 30% of total revenue. And there is precious little of it around at the moment.

Other categories are down too, but nothing like that. So, it is a fight day-by-day there and we have had a little bit of encouragement over the last couple of weeks, but I wouldn't want to build false hopes on it.