The Australian to raise its cover price to $1.50 as News Corp slides into $6bn loss
The Australian is to put up its weekday price by 20 cents to $1.50 from Monday, a rise of more than 15%, Mumbrella can reveal. The move comes as parent company News Corp this morning revealed a loss for the last quarter of US$6.4bn.
In the competitive Sydney market, the pricing move will see the News Ltd title more expensive than its broadsheet rival the Fairfax-owned Sydney Morning Herald , which is also currently $1.30. News Ltd’s Daily Telegraph is currently $1 on weekdays, while Fairfax’s Australian Financial Review is premium priced at $3.
However, in Melbourne, the rise will bring the Oz in line with its Fairfax competitor The Age, which is already $1.50.
The move comes as News Ltd’s parent company News Corp this morning reported a dramatic decline in revenues.
The comapny said that the last quarter of 2008 saw revenues fall by more 40% to just over $800m compared to the same period of 2007. However, much of that was as a result of one-off writedowns. CEO Rupert Murdoch said:
“Our results for the quarter are a direct reflection of the grim economic climate. Whilewe anticipated a weakening, the downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought. As a result, we have been taking actions to preserve a solid level of operational profitability and a strong balance sheet without sacrificing future growth. We are implementing rigorous cost-cutting across all operations and reducing head countwhere appropriate. We believe our businesses are well positioned to withstand a lengthy downturn and to emerge stronger as the current economic situation improves.”
And in a conference call this morning, Murdoch described the economic situation as the worst since the foundation of the company.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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The price increase should cover News’ losses… so long as they sell 30 billion copies of The Oz this year.
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