News Corp. shares continued to feel the pain of the hacking mess and dropped for a fourth day in a row on Monday, losing $1.23, or 7.1%, to a six-month low of $16.10 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has fallen 13% over the last week.
So far, the fallout from the News of the World debacle has been mostly limited to Britain. However, as the coverage continues to grow around the globe, it is giving new ammunition to critics of Murdoch and News Corp. in the United States.
“It is becoming increasingly clear this scandal was not perpetrated by a few rogue reporters, but was systematically orchestrated at the highest levels of News Corp.,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has called for a congressional investigation of News Corp. “If Mr. Murdoch’s employees can be so brazen as to target the British prime minister, then it is not unreasonable to believe they also might hack into the voice mails of American politicians and citizens,” Sloan added.
The concerns about the shenanigans at News of the World are not limited to groups that see themselves as counterweights to News Corp.Â’s Fox News and other outlets deemed to have a conservative agenda. Some investors are outraged as well.
On Monday, a group of News Corp. investors led by Amalgamated Bank in New York accused the company of “improper conduct” in a lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court. The suit, a revision of a previous filing against News Corp. over the terms of its purchase of a production company owned by Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, said the revelations in Britain show a “culture run amuck within News Corp. and a board that provides no effective review or oversight.”
News Corp.'s British debacle shines spotlight on U.S. operations - latimes.com