News Corp: Hacking costs another $56m

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp paid out another $56m (£36m) in the final three months of 2012 to meet the costs of the ongoing phone hacking scandal that forced it to close The News of the World.

Its publishing division, which includes HarperCollins as well as newpaper titles ranging from The Wall Street Journal to The Sun, still managed to post a $16m rise in operating profits to $234m in the quarter, thanks in part to the launch of the Sunday edition of The Sun newspaper a year ago.

Total profits at the media giant rose 125 per cent to $2.38bn as revenues rose 5 per cent to $9.5bn. The publishing division is soon to be spun off from the film and TV side, which houses Fox News channels as well as the 20th Century Fox studios.