News Corporation

News Corporation states that the company is "the world's most diverse, creative global media company... committed to informing with a purpose, entertaining with a passion, challenging with a mission and connecting the world." News Corp. is a publicly traded company with approximately 60,000 employees around the globe and is continuing to grow and expand. The beginning of News Corporation began when Rupert Murdoch took over his father's business in 1953; he inherited his first newspaper called, The Adelaide News, and began to create his empire by acquiring various newspapers and control on some television channels. Murdoch entered the United States market in 1973 to continue to expand the corporation and "in 1980 he established News Corporation as a global holding company." Murdoch decided it was in the best interest for News Corp. to purchase Twentieth Century in 1985. In the "1990s, News Corp. was in deep financial trouble with vast debts"; however, despite the financial issues, Murdoch continued expansion of News Corporation by entering new sectors such as Star Television and purchasing the LA Dodger Baseball Team. Today, News Corp. is focusing on "addressing its impact on climate change and lowering the energy use of its businesses... [The company is] committed to making energy efficiency part of [its] everyday operations." Since News Corp. is such a large company spanning across various industries, there is a negative environmental footprint that is evident worldwide. In order to keep up with competitors, a plan of action has been developed to ensure a positive impact and to reduce negative ecological footprint. On News Corp.'s website, a plan of action describing how the company will be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, it states they will:

Reduce energy consumption and switch to renewable sources of power when economically feasible. Become carbon neutral by 2010; and engage employees, business partners and audiences on the issues of energy use and climate change.

It's evident that News Corporations realizes the harmful actions it has had on the environment and consumers are hoping that changes will occur to minimize the negative impact.

The News Corporations 2009 Annual Report states that the company is a "diversified global media company, which principally consists of the following: Filmed Entertainment, Television, Cable Network Broadcasting, Direct Satellite Television, Newspapers and Information Services, Magazines and Inserts, Book Publishing, Digital Media and Mobile Technology." Through integration of such an array of industries, News Corp. has been able to meet a variety of consumer needs and markets through various media sources. For example, News Corp. is involved in providing information services. They offer these services through the Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group by "meeting the needs of financial professionals, corporate officers, communication executives and individual investors across the globe." News Corp. also owns 40 percent of the STAPLES Center which is "the home of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and Los Angeles Kings Ice Hockey team, and major league baseball team the Los Angeles Dodgers."

News Corporation has a large stake in the film entertainment industry. The company describes themselves as "one of the world's largest producers and distributors of motion pictures with Fox Filmed Entertainment group products, [which] distributes motion pictures throughout the world via Twentieth Century Fox and Fox 2000 for mainstream audiences" as well as Searchlight Pictures Twentieth Century Fox Animation. Fox Filmed Entertainment is "responsible for some of the top grossing movies of all time, including history's most successful [film of all time], Avatar."

News Corporation has become widely known in the television industry for Fox Broadcasting Network. There are station operations in the United States and Asia broadcasting a variety of original content shows across 50 countries in multiple languages. Fox is a leader in Cable Networking Programming providing viewers with valuable information and news programming that meets viewer's needs around the world. Channels associated with News Corp. is National Geographic, Fuel TV and SPEED. In Italy, News Corp. owns "the most popular pay-TV company, Sky Italia with over 4 million subscribers". They are a leader and great competitor in the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television industry. News Corp. is also "the leading publisher of English-language newspapers throughout the U.K. and Australia, they are continuously updating coverage of both major world events and local news that readers require." The Corporation is dedicated understanding the high level of consumer expectations and knowledge, with the ability to offer services that satisfy its audience.

Print magazine and inserts is another industry News Corporation has been able to achieve success through; "News America Marketing is the nation's leading single-source marketing services company... News Corp. also publishes several special interest publications in Australia and the national public affairs magazine The Weekly Standard in the United States." News Corp. is involved in book publishing, ¬¬¬allowing the company to be "one of the largest global English-language publishers with an impressive history of publishing some of the world's most important books. HarperCollins has operations in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Australia/New Zealand and India." By having various print publications, News Corp. has the ability to meet an array of target markets with a variety of needs.

To stay up to date and connected with the rest of the world, it is necessary for News Corporation to be involved in digital media. News Corp. is continuing to follow trends through internet sources such as the social networking site, MySpace to compete with its rival, Facebook. News Corp. is involved in the mobile technology industry allowing individuals to "connect with anyone, anytime and anywhere using any device... [News Corp.] helps find and develop the most innovative and exciting ways to entertain, move and inform billions around the world."

As of December 31, 2009 News Corporation had "approximately US$56 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$30 billion." Within the 2009 Annual Report, Rupert Murdoch stated that "the last year has been among the most challenging in [the] company's 56-year history... while results for the year were disappointing, [he] is happy to report [the company is] entering fiscal 2010 with a solid portfolio of businesses, a management team with a proven