Or you can save yourself a lot of hassle and ask two guys who are already making pretty good progress.

That would be CollegeHumor’s Ricky Van Veen and Vice Media’s Shane Smith. And you can find them both at our Dive into Media conference next year.

To refresh your memory: Dive Into Media is our one-night-plus-one-day tour of the media landscape, and the way technology is changing that world day by day. That means unscripted, unrehearsed conversations with an all-star cast of moguls who hold very different perspectives. They’re all joining us Feb. 11 and 12 at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel, just south of Los Angeles.

Here’s who we’ve told you about so far: Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, Hearst Magazines President David Carey, Google chief business officer Nikesh Arora, Facebook partnership vice president Dan Rose, HBO co-president Eric Kessler and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino.

And here are two more — both of whom have done very well on the Web and are now trying to figure out how to apply those lessons to more traditional outlets:

Ricky Van Veen co-founded CollegeHumor in 1999, when he and his buddies were actually in college. Seven years later, the site had evolved from a frat-tastic side project into an ambitious, successful content creation machine, and Barry Diller bought it for his IAC conglomerate. Now Van Veen is still working for Diller, but he’s moved from the Web to older media: He’s making TV shows like “Chopped” via IAC’s Notional production company, and next year he’ll release “Coffee Town,” a full-length feature film.

Shane Smith and his Vice Media co-founders started out publishing a raucous, no-holds-barred magazine back in the ’90s, and fumbled their way into the Internet during the first Web boom. Now they seem to have it figured out: They’re on track to generate $200 million this year, while making eye-popping videos — here’s a tour guide for Kabul — backed by blue-chip advertisers like Intel. Next up: An HBO series, and lots of attention from guys who run really big media empires.

Just like our flagship D: All Things Digital conference, D: Dive into Media will give you rare access to deep, smart talks with the people who matter. And we’ll be announcing more of them in the weeks to come. For now, you can find registration information here.

Chief Executive and Chairman Rupert Murdoch told shareholders at News Corp.’s annual meeting that all of the nominated board members had been approved, based on a preliminary count of shareholder votes. A final count will be reported in a coming regulatory filing, News Corp. said.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

And one of the top director candidates is well-regarded Hollywood exec Peter Chernin, said several sources.

He is an obvious choice, having been a top exec at News Corp. for many years. Since he left in mid-2009, Chernin has forged a successful film and television career, producing such hits as “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “New Girl.”

But, unlike many media execs, he has also focused on garnering much deeper digital experience.

Chernin was key to the formation of the Hulu premium online service, for example, and is also a board member of the Pandora streaming music service. He has also been making digital and media investments in Asia.

(And, interestingly, although apropos of nothing, Chernin’s former boss, Rupert Murdoch, has become an avid tweeter, too.)

Sources said Chernin has not decided if he even wants such a board seat, and Twitter management is still only in the early stages of its board effort, presumably to replace Flipboard’s Mike McCue.

The entrepreneur left the board earlier this year, after it was clear that his social media app and Twitter were on a collision course (or an acquisition one, depending how you looked at it).

But the addition of a media-savvy director — or even two — also makes sense in the context of the past year of Twitter’s evolution.

The brainchild of Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, Twitter first began as a microblogging social network.

While it did attract a lot of attention due to its celebrity tweeters — such as actor Ashton Kutcher and famebot Kim Kardashian — the management and board of Twitter is largely tech-centric in experience.

But, more recently, the service has taken its shape as a consumption-based media company, where some 40 percent of its user base read and consume content rather than create it. That is to say, they watch, but they don’t tweet.

Such a strategic direction is a natural extension for bringing in more advertising spending from outside partners, especially big media companies that have both the eyeballs and dollars that the company is hoping to attract.

Twitter is now commonly used throughout the media space in a variety of roles, from branding to audience-gauging, and also sometimes even as a plot device.

(That said, you won’t catch CEO Dick Costolo outright admitting Twitter’s media-company status; he still wants the Silicon Valley cred of being valued as a technology giant first.)

A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on any effort to bring in new directors; Chernin has not yet responded to a query for comment.

But that was January! Now Murdoch’s 20th Century Fox studio has cut a deal to sell and rent its movies and TV shows via the search giant’s YouTube and Google Play portals.

The announcement means Google has agreements with all of the major Hollywood studios. That brings the company to parity with competitors like Apple and Amazon, and it may be more symbolic than anything, since none of the digital outlets have been significant revenue generators for the studios so far.

But Fox is hoping to change that with a new digital sales push. It is cutting the price for new movies like “Prometheus” to $15 from its usual $20, and offering them earlier than it has in the past: You can buy the movie today, three weeks before it will appear on discs and pay-TV operators’ video-on-demand stores.

Fox will market “Prometheus” hard at every digital outlet it can find, including those run by Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Sony. But people familiar with the studio’s plans say it is counting on a significant assist from Google, which means you’re likely to see prominent ads for the movie on YouTube and on other Google properties. (News Corp. also owns this Web site.)

Okay. So what about the whole piracy thing? Neither Google or News Corp. officials are commenting about a rapprochement.

But last month Google did announce that it would start making it harder for pirate sites to show up in its search results, a move that drew praise from both the movie and music industries.

Perhaps that, combined with a need to shore up a flagging DVD business, was enough to change Murdoch’s mind. If so, the detente could have an impact on his other dealings with Google’s entertainment ventures, like Google TV and its Google Fiber project, both of which News Corp. has yet to support.

Alternate theory: Murdoch has simply been overwhelmed by Sergey Brin’s Google Glass specs, which he labled “genius,” after a Fashion Week event this month.

An unusual collaboration for Google, which has previously publicly shown off Glasses twice, both times at its 2012 developer event, Google I/O. But there is a rationale for it the Fashion Week appearance: The $1,500 glasses are being used to record behind-the-scenes video footage for a short movie about von Furstenberg’s creative process.

“I am so excited to introduce Glass to the fashion world and use this revolutionary technology to give everyone a unique perspective into fashion,” von Furstenberg said in a canned statement.

DVF

“Genius,” Murdoch exclaimed on Twitter. “Sergey Brin showing revolutionary new glasses at DVF, can take photos, receive texts, give directions, and more. Google Project X.”

According to sources close to the situation, News Corp.’s Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller will soon be leaving the media giant.

It seems to be a cordial, although perhaps inevitable, parting — sources said Miller will remain an adviser to chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, as well as COO Chase Carey and deputy COO James Murdoch, for a year after his departure in late September.

Update: News Corp. confirmed the departure in a press release, which is embedded below.

His leaving brings into focus the fate of News Corp.’s overall digital strategy in an upcoming new structure. Miller was hired in 2009 to turbocharge the company’s long-troubled digital assets.

But I had noted in an article in July that the well-known Internet exec was not likely to continue at News Corp. in the wake of a complex transaction that will ultimately break the company apart into two separate entities — an entertainment company and a publishing one.

That’s a very different situation from when Miller was hired by the media giant to lead its tech and online initiatives and make digital a priority across its many divisions.

Not for lack of trying or access to powerful News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch — it has been a mixed bag for Miller in his tenure.

That’s due in no small part to a problem faced by many execs like Miller: The difficulty of successfully pushing digital initiatives inside a large traditional media organization.

His job has encompassed everything from a failed effort to revive its once mighty Myspace service to selling it and other properties off to working to improve its Hulu partnership, where he serves on the board.

It is not clear who will replace Miller as one of the News Corp. directors at the complexly-owned premium video service, which had been for sale and then not recently.

One of the brighter Miller accomplishments for News Corp. has been forging decidedly better relationships with key Internet companies, both large and small, as well as with venture investors in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

That was most pronounced and visible between Apple and News Corp., which struck a number of deals to work together, some of which worked and some that had much less success.

Miller has also been active in China, working on several digital investment opportunities for News Corp. there. That included a recent $70 million investment in Bona Film Group.

He was key to a recent $45 million investment by the company and others in the company that sells the Roku video streaming device.

He also worked on various New Corp. efforts on creating channels on Google’s YouTube, including WIGS, a drama series. The jury is still out on these kinds of creative endeavors, of course, especially to a company with much more lucrative traditional film and television assets.

There was a possibility that, in his leaving, Miller might form a separate investment fund to focus on digital publishing and media, funded by News Corp. or even by the Murdoch family, who control the company.

But that has appeared not to have worked out, said sources.

Before he came to News Corp., Miller ran an investment fund with former Yahoo exec Ross Levinsohn called Fuse Capital. He also was chairman and CEO of AOL under its Time Warner ownership and was a top exec at IAC/InterActiveCorp.

Miller has remained an active angel investor, funding a range of start-ups such as Maker Studios, Voxer, Science, Solavei, Personal.com, as well many as others.

He is also chairman of OpenX and serves on the boards of Shutterstock and TripAdvisor.

Clearly, this is a world Miller will return to easily and it’s likely he’ll be starting something sooner than later. (Maybe bringing the band back together with Levinsohn?)

JonathanMillerAug23.2012

(Full disclosure: This Web site is owned by Dow Jones, which is owned — in turn — by News Corp.)

Bahat had spent more than a year trying to engineer a spinoff of the business, which publishes Web sites that cater to dudes who like video games and other stuff dudes like. News Corp. also publishes this Web site.

The plan included an acquisition of rival dudes-and-games site UGO in May 2011. But the spinoff never happened, so Bahat is heading out. In his words, via a memo he just sent employees: “It has become clear that now is the time to refresh the process of looking at strategic options for this business.” He’ll stay on as an IGN board member.

Bahat’s plan, endorsed by News Corp.’s digital head Jon Miller, was to cleave off IGN from its parent company, under the thesis that it could grow faster on its own.

The idea was to find private equity backers or other financial players to pour money into a standalone company, and News Corp. would retain a stake in the new venture.

From my 2011 story on the would-be spinoff:

Unlike other Web moves News Corp. has been making, the plan to move IGN outside of News Corp.’s corporate walls isn’t a disposal of an impaired asset. People familiar with IGN’s operations say it is growing and profitable.

I’m told the company expects to earn more than $10 million this year on revenues of around $100 million. The idea is that IGN will be able to grow much faster if it isn’t operating inside Rupert Murdoch’s company.

My understanding is that News Corp. continues to like the idea, in theory. But it has been … distracted in the last year. At various times, I’ve heard that Bahat had rounded up the investors he needed to get the deal done, or that it was dead in the water, and those stories frequently reversed in the span of a month.

Apparently Bahat doesn’t want to wait around to see how the tale ends.

From: Roy Bahat
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 12:13 PM
To: All
Subject: IGN’s next steps

All,

Some hard news to share, so I’ll get right to it. After a lot of thought, I’ve made the difficult choice to leave my role as President. I’ll remain on the IGN Board.

David Martin, our CFO, will also become Acting President as IGN continues on its path of exploring strategic options for the future. David has my and our Board’s full confidence. Before joining IGN, he created and ran a company about our size, and he’s passionate about what we do. He’s quickly earned the respect of our leadership team, righted our finance group, and gotten particularly involved with eSports and other growing areas of our business.

We’ve all worked hard so IGN’s Way is about more than any one person. Our “bet factory” distributes responsibility as widely as possible, making the organization resilient for the future – including transitions like this one. I know you’ll continue to drive and evolve our values of fire, greatness, innovation, multiplayer, and irreverence. I can’t wait to see just how.

From our Code-Foo gang to guys like Peer and Tal who have been here from the first day, you are what has made IGN a joy to lead these past five years. I’ve been thrilled to see how we’ve grown – from one screen to almost 20, from being mostly about text and pictures to having two billion video views last year, from being in too many businesses to focusing on media, from a mostly-U.S. business to a real presence in 40+ countries, starting a crazy new eSports business, and reaching 50% more people every month – to continue to command the largest audience of video gamers in the world. (And yes, Ric, the greatest audience of Better Men 18-34, too.) IGN can now become a truly mainstream media company.

So why am I leaving? It has become clear that now is the time to refresh the process of looking at strategic options for this business. David will do that and more. He’ll work closely with Jack Kennedy and Jon Miller at News Corp., who will lead our efforts to explore the strategic options that will best position IGN for success in the future.

You all have made this the most educational, enjoyable role I’ve ever held – it was more than just a job – and I’m excited to see what you do next. With a new generation of game consoles launching, and so many platforms opening up to our content, the next few years should put the wind at IGN’s back. We’ll all be off to that “next level” thing. I’m going to start by taking a couple months to hang out with my family, then continue on my slow attempt to learn to code, maybe help out with a few startups here and there… and I’m honored to stay involved with IGN. In my role on the board, I’ll continue to work with the team here on what’s to come.

I hope to stay in all of your orbits. You’re going places.

I’ll do an All-Hands in a few minutes, at 12.30pm PST, to give you a chance to ask questions. Look out for a calendar invite with details.

Yours, truly,

Roy

One of the issues that seems to have gotten lost in the complex transaction that will ultimately break apart News Corp. into two separate entities — an entertainment company and a publishing one — is the fate of its overall digital strategy in the new paradigm.

That arena for the media behemoth is now being headed by Jon Miller, the longtime Internet exec and investor, who was hired by the media giant in 2009 as chief digital officer to lead its tech and online initiatives.

His job has encompassed everything from his failed effort to revive its once mighty Myspace property to selling it and other properties off to working on its Hulu partnership. Miller has also been active in China, looking for digital investment opportunities for News Corp. there.

But now that the company is being cleaved in two, it’s hard to imagine where Miller would land in either new entity.

And, according to numerous sources, he probably will not and is instead in discussions with CEO Rupert Murdoch and others at the company about forming a separate investment fund to focus on digital publishing and media.

It will not be owned by either new News Corp. unit, said sources.

While the possibility is in its early stages and might not happen, the fund could be seeded with money from News Corp. or, more interestingly, from the Murdoch family itself.

Such a shift for Miller would not be a stretch, since he has run an investment fund with Yahoo exec Ross Levinsohn called Fuse Capital. He has worked previously running AOL and also did a stint at IAC.

While Miller has made a number of different investments across the tech landscape, digital publishing has been a particular focus.

Miller and News Corp. declined comment.

(Full disclosure: This Web site is owned by Dow Jones, which is owned — in turn — by News Corp.)

Ms. Murdoch, 43 years old, will remain chairman of Shine, focusing on developing strategy and leading the creative parts of the company, Shine said in a written statement. It named the company’s chief operating officer, Alex Mahon, as CEO, taking “responsibility for day to day management” of Shine. Ms. Mahon, 38 years old, joined Shine in 2006.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

The top brass at most Fortune 500 companies are opting for the latter. At least, that’s what a new study to be released on Thursday from data analytics company Domo claims.

Some 70 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are nowhere to be found across the top social networks — like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ — according to the study.

Why? The report, unfortunately, doesn’t go there, so your guess is as good as ours. Perhaps they’re not convinced that they need a social presence themselves, or perhaps they just don’t have the time to put into it. Or maybe they don’t want to go through the embarrassment and potential fallout caused by a social media faux pas (lord knows Anthony Weiner learned this the hard way).

Domo founder Josh James, however, thinks that opting out entirely is a bad idea.

“The primary reason you have to be social is because that is where your customer lives,” James wrote in a blog post published Wednesday evening. “Even if you are not leveraging it to close business and interact with your customers, you have to spend enough time online to at least understand the shift in the world.”

James’s company does have some skin in the game. Backed by $63 million in venture funding from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Benchmark Capital, Domo offers executive-level customers a dashboard-like set of social analytics and management tools to keep an eye on their company. James is so gung ho on the social concept inside the workplace, he recently launched a companywide experiment, dubbed #Domosocial, where every Domo employee will be required to use outside social platforms for two months, essentially practicing what his company preaches.

To be sure, the CEOs in the study have some presence online currently. That’s mostly on static, less engagement-heavy platforms like LinkedIn — where more than 25 percent have profiles — or even Wikipedia, where upward of 36 percent of CEOs have their own Wikipedia pages.

The other platforms that thrive on higher engagement aren’t so populated. Around 4 percent of the CEOs surveyed have Twitter accounts, while nearly 7 percent have Facebook accounts. And forget about Google+ and Pinterest — fewer than 1 percent of CEOs are on Google’s social network, and absolutely none of them are pinning LOLcat pics to their own Pinterest boards.

Is this going to change in the coming years? Perhaps, given the recent Twitter account adoptions from high-profile CEOs like Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp. (and my boss, by proxy of News Corp’s ownership of Dow Jones, AllThingsD’s parent company), and Larry Ellison, the famously mouthy CEO of Oracle. If enough CEOs see the ripples caused by these magnates, and the conversation it generates, it could coax a few new inductees to go social.

That is, unless we end up with another Weiner moment on our hands.

All his drastic corporate rejiggering and continued phone-hacking controversies do not seem to have stopped News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch from continuing to tweet up a storm.

And by storm, I mean some pretty controversial Twitter tornadoes of late. It’s highly unusual for a sitting CEO, since many well-known people arrive on Twitter with a lot of noisy sparkle and then follow with hardly a whimper.

But Murdoch, who first appeared on the communications service in January, remains very active and pot-stirring.

Previously, targets were Google and President Barack Obama, but Murdoch recently added more to his digital target practice.

On Saturday, July 1, particularly — he appears to go wild once every week or so, mostly on weekends — the media mogul took aim at Tom Cruise’s divorce and Scientology, as well as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign performance and his favored punching bag, the New York Times, as you can see below:

First, a smack upside the head to the NYT:

London again. 8 lively, different Sunday papers. Some great writing, some fun, some hysterical but happy change from boring Sunday NYT.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

Then, a slap attack at Scientology:

Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hiearchy.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

Now it’s time to deliver a fresh one to Mittens, whom Murdoch has recently been ragging on relentlessly on Twitter:

Met Romney last week. Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

And, back to the doomed TomKat:

Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

Finally, not backing down, more on the creepy-evils:

Since Scientology tweet hundreds of attacks. Expect they will increase and get worse and maybe threatening. Still stick to my story.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

Things calmed down by Sunday, with decidedly more sage civic advice:

Do not forget July Fourth and remember to read the Declaration of Independence aloud. At least once!

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 2, 2012

In Murdoch’s case, perhaps a plug for the Constitution would be more apt, what with the freedom of tweet — oops, speech — part.

(Full disclosure: Murdoch essentially owns this Web site, but so far has not aimed his Twitter arrows at us. Yet!)

“I was hanging on, and so was the whole family,” the 81-year-old Mr. Murdoch said in an interview Thursday. “We were very emotional about it. … I went through lots of ups and downs.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

News Corp. has officially announced its impending divorce from itself. Now some of its executives will field a few questions from investors (but not reporters). I’ll be liveblogging at least part of the proceedings, below:

Good morning. We’re live.

Here’s Rupert: “Today’s a very exciting day for News Corp. And one of great pride for me, personally.”

We’ve been working on this plan for three years (except that I’ve been rejecting it for almost all of that time).

(Apologies, had to correct earlier post: Murdoch will be chairman of both companies, post-split, and CEO of entertainment company. He hasn’t announced a role for himself in the publishing company — but, obviously, he’ll be intensely involved, regardless of title.)

Murdoch walking through previous memos, with basics of the split.

Both of these companies are awesome. And the split will make them more awesome: More flexible, more “nimble” (uses that term multiple times), will uncover value, etc.

“Subject to final board and shareholder approval” (J/K! I control all of that, so we’re only stopping this if I say so.)

Hey, don’t freak out about the publishing business. It’s going to have a very strong balance sheet with “robust cash position.”

Q&A:

Q: You said you’ve considered this for years. Why now?

Murdoch: “I looked around, I’ve seen other companies that have split up, and they’ve certainly done well for other shareholders … it’s a very big move and a very big decision for me … it’s very important to say, this is not a fait accompli. There are a lot of steps to take.”

Q: We think the publishing industry is in decline. Why do you think publishing can grow? And for CFO Dave DeVoe — can you keep buying back stock during the split?

Murdoch: “Digital.” People are still buying paper, but they’re now buying bits, too. I’ve been pushing the idea that people will pay for news for a couple years. And we’ve been charging for news online. “We’re going to push them a lot harder, and improve them greatly.”

DeVoe: No impact on buybacks.

Murdoch: Well, maybe a moderate slowdown in buybacks.

Q: You talked about “robust net cash position” after spinoff. What will financial structures look like after spin?

DeVoe: Stay tuned.

Q: How does capex, other stuff get split?

Qs about amortization, etc. This question confuses DeVoe.

Q: You talked about strategic opps for both companies. Any specifics?

Chase Carey: Nah. Just a generalization.

Q: Hey what about BSkyB?

Carey: No changes there.

Q: Looks like the publishing business is sort of an Australian business now. So who’s going to run that? (Maybe a Murdoch son who lives there now?)

Murdoch: We have a wonderful group of managers in the whole company. “This will take many months to complete, and we’re in no hurry to make a decision on that.”

Q: You said this thing wasn’t a done deal. What are the hurdles?

Murdoch: “Oh, I don’t know. Lawyers.”

I’d like this to go faster than 12 months, but I’ve been told I have no chance. It took McGraw-Hill a long time; Kraft, too. “There’s just a lot of hurdles you have to go over”

Q: Will this help you out in the U.K.?

A: Murdoch “We’re not doing this in any sense as a reaction to the U.K. … it is not a reaction to anything in Britain.”

[Missed a Q, apologies]

Q: You’ve had print news and TV news assets for a long time. Why are you splitting them up? Why can’t you make them synergistic?

Carey: I disagree. [Unstated -- if you think Roger Ailes and Fox News are going to work The Wall Street Journal or any other News Corp. print business, you should go lie down, because you are very, very drunk.]

Q: But seriously, why can’t news teams for print work with news teams for TV?

Carey: [Seriously. You're high.]

Q: You’ve said spinoff will be 1:1. Any chance that changes?

Murdoch: We didn’t say that.

DeVoe: Actually, we did. But it could change over time.

Q: More on capitalization for publishing company. Most publishing companies are levered up. Sounds like you’ll stuff this thing full of cash, though. Why?

Carey: Not going into details. But “we’ve got unique businesses.”

Q: So will there be any synergy between the two separate companies?

Murdoch: Not really.

Carey: They can still work together, but at arm’s length.

Q: Will these companies trade on both American and Australian exchanges? Also, aren’t these two companies going to compete with each other?

Carey: Basically, these companies will be mirrors of News Corp. today re: trading. As far as competition: Each company is going to do their own thing.

And we’re done. Thanks for reading. More later, obviously.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Here’s Rupert Murdoch’s official “internal” announcement explaining the News Corp. split.

The important stuff:

• Murdoch will remain chairman of both the publishing business and the entertainment business, and CEO of the entertainment business (this report incorrectly stated that Murdoch would be CEO of both new companies).
• Chase Carey will be COO of the entertainment business.
• No details on the leadership of the publishing business. (Inside News Corp., people are keeping a close eye on Murdoch’s son Lachlan, who left the family business in 2005, but may well return.)
• The split will take a year or so to work out.

Dear Colleagues:

It is with much enthusiasm and personal pride that I share with you today’s news regarding our plan to drive towards the next, transformative phase of this organization you and I have built together into one of the largest, most innovative media companies of our time.

That very size and breadth has created an opportunity to separate News Corporation into two global leaders in their own right — we will wow the world as two, as opposed to merely one.

I believe our leadership is born out of a spirit of innovation. We have never accepted the status quo. We have always been driven by the belief that we can do better — deliver a better product for our audiences and provide better performing businesses for our shareholders. Our success has come from our speed, flexibility and creativity in responding to changing markets, in combination with our commitment to serving our customers’ needs.

Our publishing businesses are greatly undervalued by the skeptics. Through this transformation we will unleash their real potential, and be able to better articulate the true value they hold for shareholders. Our aim is to create the most ambitious, well-capitalized and highly motivated publishing company in the world, consisting of the largest collection of our news and publishing brands, as well as our groundbreaking digital education group; we will also work to create the world’s top media and entertainment company, encompassing our premier broadcast and cable networks, leading film and television production studios and highly successful pay-tv businesses.

Much of our foundation already exists — because of you. We have the creative minds. We have the assets. We have the brands. But we must realign and reorganize in this moment of opportunity so that we can heighten our focus and be faster, more nimble, and more adaptable to change. When we began this journey 60 years ago in Adelaide, we made a commitment to provide great journalism, while also entertaining our consumers. In news, information, data, literature, and digital content, no company has devoted the resources, the passion, or enjoyed the success we have. That will not change. The most important guarantee to free societies, free markets and free minds is free speech. Knowledge has changed the course of history in every society, and we believe that being a creator and distributor of information is not just the right thing to do, it’s good business. The failure of other publishing companies to embrace the future has itself created opportunities for us around the world. Our publishing company will deliver on the promise of a well-informed society as we aggressively grow our business across borders and new global platforms.

On the media and entertainment side, we have a reputation for inspiring and entertaining millions of imaginations every day. We have a history of empowering truly visionary, creative talent to take chances that have redefined the landscape again and again. Today, our creative content businesses have never been stronger. Our distribution assets, globally, are on full throttle. These businesses, at the core of an independent media and entertainment entity, will innovate and grow even faster.

The most valuable commodities in the world today are information, analysis and education, with infinite potential through the growth of technology and digital platforms to accelerate the improvement of world living standards.

Today there are 30 million tablets in use in the U.S. and 75 million worldwide. In five years’ time, there will be at least 75 million tablets in the U.S. and 375 million in the world. Smartphones will get far smarter and grow rapidly over the next 5 years, from 120 million active phones to 225 million in the U.S., and from 835 million to 1.7 billion in the world. These technologies will permeate all parts of life — including education — and it is my firm belief that these two companies will be best positioned to compete in this rapidly evolving global economy and distribute our premium content on these platforms.

Over the years, I have become accustomed to the noise of critics and naysayers…and pretty thick-skinned! Remember what they said when we started the Fox Network, Sky, Fox News and The Sun? These experiences have made me more resilient. And they should you, as well. And time and time again, we persevered, creating new businesses, new products, telling new stories, informing and educating the public in new ways — and giving jobs to thousands more people.

I am extremely excited by this big change. It is a testimony to our entrepreneurial spirit and determination to educate, inspire and entertain millions of families across the globe.

I will personally be leading the creation of our new companies and will serve as Chairman of both organizations and as CEO of the media and entertainment company. Chase Carey will continue to partner with me on leading the media and entertainment business, by serving as President and COO. We are busy working on other important details and will inform you as they become available.

Lastly, each of you will make this possible. I will forever be grateful for your loyalty, hard work, creative thinking, and most of all, for your support in making this transition a successful one. We have much work to do as we grasp the great opportunities that lie ahead.

I cannot express how much I appreciate all of your hard work up to this point, and for the promise of your continued creativity as we lay the foundation stones for these two great companies. Each will be unified in their spirit, in their determination, and in their dedication to touching and enhancing lives around the world.

Best regards,

Rupert Murdoch

And here’s the formal memo from News Corp.

NEWS CORPORATION ANNOUNCES INTENT TO PURSUE SEPARATION OF ENTERTAINMENT AND PUBLISHING BUSINESSES TO ENHANCE STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT AND INCREASE OPERATIONAL FLEXIBILITY
Separation Would Create Two Category-Leading Public Companies
NEW YORK – JUNE 28, 2012 – News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) today announced that it intends to pursue the separation of its publishing and media and entertainment businesses into two distinct publicly traded companies. Upon closing of such a transaction, shareholders would hold interests in a world-class publishing company, consisting of the largest collection of best-in-class publishing assets and a new digital education group, and an unmatched global media and entertainment company, each of which would benefit from enhanced strategic alignment and increased operational flexibility with respect to an unparalleled portfolio of assets, brands and franchises.

News Corporation’s Board authorized management to explore this separation after a Board meeting yesterday.

The proposed transaction would create global category leaders in both publishing and entertainment: a publishing company, which would be comprised of News Corporation’s newspapers and information businesses in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, the Company’s leading book publishing brands, its integrated marketing services company, its digital education group, as well as its other assets in Australia; and a global media and entertainment company, which would encompass News Corporation’s broadcast and worldwide cable networks, leading film and television production studios, television stations and highly successful pay-TV businesses in Europe and India.

“There is much work to be done, but our Board and I believe that this new corporate structure we are pursuing would accelerate News Corporation’s businesses to grow to new heights, and enable each company and its divisions to recognize their full potential – and unlock even greater long-term shareholder value,” said Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation. “News Corporation’s 60-year heritage of developing world-class media brands has resulted in a large and unparalleled portfolio of diversified assets. We recognize that over the years, News Corporation’s broad collection of assets have become increasingly complex. We determined that creating this new structure would simplify operations and greater align strategic priorities, enabling each company to better deliver on our commitments to consumers across the globe. I am 100 percent committed to the future of both the publishing and media and entertainment businesses and, if the Board ultimately approves a separation, I would serve as Chairman of both companies.”

News Corporation believes that a separation of the businesses into distinct public corporations with their own identities and strategies would enhance overall shareholder value and allow each company to:

Focus on and pursue distinct strategic priorities and industry-specific opportunities that would maximize their long-term potential.
Benefit from greater financial and operational flexibility and better position each company to compete.
Respond and react more quickly to rapidly-evolving technology and global market opportunities.
Tailor its capital structure, and allocate and deploy resources in a manner consistent with its strategic objectives that best enhances value for its respective shareholder group.

With more focus devoted to each business’ financial and operational structure, investors would be able to more clearly evaluate the inherent value of both portfolios of assets and invest in each company accordingly.

The new global media and entertainment company that would be created through the proposed transaction would consist of News Corporation’s highly-profitable cable and television assets, filmed entertainment, and direct satellite broadcasting businesses, including Fox Broadcasting, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Fox Sports, Fox International Channels, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FX, Star, the National Geographic Channels, Shine Group, Fox Television Stations, BSkyB, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, among others. As a pure-play content producer and distributor, the Company would build on its deep heritage in developing incredibly strong, premium content for distribution on screens of all sizes by leveraging its leading content across its entertainment and cable news verticals, as well as its unparalleled collection of regional sports networks, and the industry’s leading movie and TV production and distribution company. In addition, the entertainment company would benefit from its rapidly growing, high-margin cable network and pay-TV assets, and the distribution capabilities and opportunities associated with its unrivaled global footprint with significant scale across North and South America, Europe and Asia.

The new global publishing company that would be created through the proposed transaction would consist of News Corporation’s current publishing businesses, as well as its book publishing, education and integrated marketing services divisions. The new publishing company would create a scaled publishing platform that would be one of the best capitalized in the industry. The publishing company would have the opportunity to leverage its trusted brands for innovation and value creation across all traditional and digital platforms. The publishing company would incorporate some of the world’s most successful print, digital and information services brands including Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, HarperCollins, The New York Post, and The Daily, as well as offer the rich diversity of assets in Australia, including leading brands such as The Australian, The Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph and The Courier Mail. In addition, the Company would include The Times, The Sun, The Sunday Times, as well as News Corporation’s integrated marketing services group and its ground-breaking digital education group, including Wireless Generation. With a balanced portfolio of stable and growing news publishing brands and other assets, shareholders would benefit from strong and consistent free cash flow generated by these businesses, over multiple platforms.

Upon closing of the proposed transaction, News Corporation’s shareholders would receive one share of common stock in the new company for each same class News Corporation share currently held. Following the separation, each company would maintain two classes of common stock: Class A Common and Class B Common Voting Shares.

Upon closing of the proposed transaction, Rupert Murdoch would serve as Chairman of both companies and CEO of the media and entertainment company. Chase Carey would serve as President and COO of the media and entertainment company. Over the next several months, the Company will assemble management teams and Boards of Directors for both businesses.

The separation is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. Management is developing detailed plans for the Board’s further consideration and final approval. To execute the transaction requires further work on structure, management, governance, and other significant matters. After receiving final approval of the Board of Directors, News Corporation will convene a special shareholder meeting to consider the transaction. This meeting is not expected to take place until the first half of calendar 2013. During the closing process, News Corporation will remain focused on delivering the best possible results for the benefit of its consumers, customers and shareholders.

In addition to shareholder approval, the completion of the separation will also be subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, opinions from tax counsel and favorable rulings from certain tax jurisdictions regarding the tax-free nature of the transaction to the Company and to its shareholders, further due diligence as appropriate, and the filing and effectiveness of appropriate filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company will provide interim updates as appropriate. There can be no assurances given that the separation of the Company’s businesses as described in this announcement will occur.

The split is expected to be formally announced early Thursday morning. One company will house entertainment businesses like 20th Century Fox, Fox broadcast network and Fox News Channel while another houses the publishing assets, which include The Wall Street Journal and the Times of London along with HarperCollins book publishing and News Corp’s education business.

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The first two big questions to resolve about the News Corp. split:

Is this for real? I’ve talked to people in and out of the company (which also owns this Web site) who believe this is a News Corp. trial balloon, and that Rupert Murdoch hasn’t settled on a plan to split his low-margin publishing business from his high-margin video business.*

But I’ve also talked to a lot of people inside News Corp. who believe Murdoch is charging full steam ahead here. “He’s excited about this,” one of them told me today. So are investors, who have pushed Murdoch’s stock up eight percent today. (Worth noting: News Corp. stock is now above where it was a year ago, when the Millie Dowler/voicemail story kicked off the hacking scandal that continues to dog the company).

Also excited: Goldman Sachs and Centerview Partners, the two banks News Corp. has put on the job.

Next question: Who runs the publishing business? A split would leave News Corp. COO Chase Carey running the unit that houses the film and TV business, just as he’s doing today (though it’s possible Murdoch would retain his CEO title at one or both companies). The intrigue is about the other half. The logical choice would be Robert Thomson, a longtime Murdoch lieutenant who runs The Wall Street Journal and is editor-in-chief at Dow Jones. Today’s persistent chatter, though, is that Murdoch’s son Lachlan, who left the family business back in 2005, wants back in.

The buzz from News Corp. is that at least one of these queries should be answered soon, perhaps this week. Grab your popcorn.

*For a smart quick take on what this means — and how it’s not at all like Sumner Redstone’s Viacom/CBS split from the last decade — see PaidContent’s Staci Kramer.