News Corp. (NWS-A) has been aggressive lately, taking shots at their TV competitor CNBC in connection to their upcoming launch of their Fox Business channel.
Now they're moving those shots against another competitor, the Financial Times. Speaking in Scotland, News Corp. President Peter Chernin commented when asked if they thought about buying out the Financial Times: "We don't want to buy the FT. News Corp will crush it."
Chernin added they are also not interested in working together with the Financial Times to quicken their growth in international markets in order to create a global brand. The Financial Times is stronger in the European countries while the Wall Street Journal dominates North America.
The problem for the Financial Times, as far as competing on the international level, is it must deliver profits to the bottom line of its parent Pearson.
As I mentioned on another post, domestically the Financial Times should do ok.
"The danger for the Financial Times isn't so much on the domestic level, as we said, but the international level. As Ponsford adds: 'Mr Murdoch will soak up losses for years to beat off competition. The FT can't do that. It has to deliver to Pearson's bottom line.'"
With the Financial Times having a goal of competing on the international level and becoming a global force, that particular goal is in serious trouble. Murdoch's patience and long-term outlook have a truly great chance of relegating the Financial Times to a more domestic and smaller regional property, rather than the global property that the Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones properties will become.
News Corp. probably will crush the Financial Times, not into extinction, but into international irrelevancy. That will probably weaken them to the point of becoming a takeover target.
Sponsored link: The outsourcing every manager requires - Tampa Locksmith
Comment Preview