MURDOCH: HACKING SCANDAL GAVE NEWS CORP A “BLACK EYE”

News Corp shareholders who received copies of the company’s annual report found a letter attached from company chairman Rupert Murdoch in which he attempts to put the telephone hacking scandal in the U.K. into the context of the company’s financial performance. “As has been widely publicized, our company has received a major black eye from the phone hacking scandal at our News of the World newspaper in the U.K.,” Murdoch said in the letter. He also conceded that in the long run the scandal and subsequent investigations “could damage our reputation and might impair our ability to conduct our business.” However, he maintained, News Corp is continuing to cooperate with investigators in both the U.K. and the U.S. and, he implies, the scandal has thus far not affected the company’s bottom line. “We are better positioned financially and operationally than we have ever been,” he wrote. “I realize the current flavor of the day is economic pessimism,” he concluded, “however, I am optimistic about the future because I believe that News Corporation … will continue to shape it.”