News Corp. Rumored to Eye US Papers

Rumors are swirling that News Corp. is looking at acquiring US papers like Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Some sources said executives of News Corp. are in early discussions with Chicago Tribune’s debt holders. The executives, however, have yet to review the Tribune’s financial standings.

News Corp Julie Henderson, however, said that reports are inaccurate. Henderson is News Corp.’s senior vice president for corporate affairs and chief communications officer.

Murdoch has always been vocal in saying he wanted to acquire the Los Angeles Times.

According to reports, News Corp. would gain control of Chicago Tribune once the court supervision has ended. One of the debt holders of the paper is Oaktree Capital Management.

News Corp. has just come out of the scandal it was involved in, specifically the phone-hacking controversy in the UK. As a result of the scandal, media mogul Rupert Murdoch decided to split its publishing and entertainment businesses.

News Corp. also declared a write-down of about $5.7 billion for its inquisition of Dow Jones in 2007.

A few months back, Tribune creditors wanted to file for bankruptcy. The court, however, required them to post a $1.5 billion bond before doing so. The newspaper company owes its creditors about $13 billion.