Activist hedge fund Starboard Value has begun agitating for change at News Corp, including a $7bn (£5.7bn) sell-off of the company’s online property business, having built a stake in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, according to a report by The Guardian.
The report quotes Starboard as saying that News Corp’s current $12.6bn valuation “does not make sense” and that management should consider a beak-up of the business.
Speaking on Tuesday, Starboard CEO Jeff Smith said: “If News Corp separates the digital real estate assets through a tax-free spin [off]…shareholders will see significant appreciation in the company’s share price.”
Starboard though, which has previously pushed for change at companies ranging from Salesforce to Darden Restaurants , may face an uphill struggle for change at News Corp without the consent of the Murdoch family, which controls 39% of the company’s voting shares.
In November, Irenic Capital Management said that it valued News Corp at potentially as much as $23bn, with the Wall Street Journal publisher worth as much as $10bn in its own right.
