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News Corp is confirming that the media behemoth will split in two, allowing its more profitable entertainment properties to break free of its less profitable publishing ones, reports the Wall Street Journal—which itself is on the publishing half of that divide. "We will wow the world as two, as opposed to merely one," wrote Rupert Murdoch in an internal announcement obtained by AllThingsD. News Corp's board unanimously approved the split at a meeting last night. Murdoch will be CEO of both companies, while Chase Carey will be COO of the entertainment branch; industry watchers have their eye on Murdoch son Lachlan to head up the publishing arm.
Investors are cheering the split; News Corp's stock has jumped 11% since Tuesday, as they salivated over the potential of a Fox unburdened by those pesky newspapers. "I am perplexed about why so much value is created overnight in the entertainment company," said one investor, arguing that the entertainment properties aren't all as high-growth as investors imagine. As for the publishing business, one analyst says that "given print advertising's continuing spiral downward, the new company's thin 7% profit margin would disappear quickly."
