News Corp. Holds Talks On Governance Concerns

News Corp. (NWSA) Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey, reacting to the scandal over phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid, is holding discussions with some large investors over governance and other concerns.

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which held 3.86 million News Corp. Class A shares as of June 30, is among those participating, said Ricardo Duran, a spokesman.

“Calstrs is involved in the engagement process, which includes sending letters, holding conference calls and meetings, with News Corp. management,” Duran said in an e-mail. “Because this is delicate, we cannot say anything further about our efforts.”

News Corp. May Increase Quarterly Dividend

News Corp. headquarters in New York.

News Corp. (NWSA), trying to rebuild investor confidence after a phone-hacking scandal, may raise its quarterly dividend by 20 percent when the company reports earnings tomorrow.

The payout probably will rise to 9 cents a share from 7.5 cents, according to projections. News Corp. (NWS) may instead hasten share purchases under a $5 billion buyback, said Brett Harriss, an analyst at Gabelli & Co., which owns voting and nonvoting stock of the New York-based company. News Corp.’s board meets today and earnings are set for tomorrow after markets close.

News Corp., Hackings and the Story I Missed: Jonathan Weil

One August afternoon almost six years ago I sat in the office of a small marketing company called Floorgraphics Inc., listening to two of its founders tell how a News Corp. (NWSA) unit had hacked into their computer system.

They were trying to get federal prosecutors interested, they said. The big question in my mind was whether I had a story I could run with. At the time I was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. (This was before News Corp. (NWS) bought the paper.) Ultimately I decided not to write about the company. And I had largely forgotten about Floorgraphics, until this month.

U.S. Credit Rating Rides on S&P’s London View of Politics on Capitol Hill

David Beers may be the most influential political commentator in the U.S. right now, even though he’s hardly a household name, that isn’t technically his job and he’s only visiting.

As the London-based managing director of sovereign credit ratings at Standard & Poor’s, Beers will help determine whether the U.S. government’s credit rating will be downgraded as a result of the battle over raising the debt limit.

Murdoch Gets Major News Corp. Investor’s Vote

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

 

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, facing the fallout from alleged phone-hacking at a London newspaper, got a vote of confidence from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, one of the company’s largest shareholders.

 Alwaleed remains “both supportive and confident in the leadership of Rupert and James Murdoch,” he said in an e-mail yesterday. The statement came a day after Rupert Murdoch and his son James, who is deputy chief operating officer, were questioned by U.K. lawmakers during a three-hour hearing on alleged phone-hacking at News Corp.’s News of the World tabloid.