New York, March 06, 2012 -- The following release represents Moody's Investors Service's summary
credit opinion on News Corporation and includes certain regulatory disclosures
regarding its ratings. This release does not constitute any change
in Moody's ratings or rating rationale for News Corporation and its affiliates.
News Corporation Exchange Trust
BACKED Preferred Stock (domestic currency) ratings of Baa1
News America Incorporated
Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of Baa1
BACKED Senior Unsecured (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of Baa1
News Corporation Finance Trust II
BACKED Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of Baa1
RATINGS RATIONALE
News Corp.'s Baa1 senior unsecured long term ratings (rated debt
resides at News America Incorporated, a subsidiary of News Corp.)
and stable outlook reflect the company's scale and leading market positions
in each of its core business segments and its strong debt protection measures.
The rating is also supported by News Corp.'s geographic and business
diversity. With no business segment representing more than 30%
of total sales and almost 45% of its annual revenues generated
outside the U.S., News Corp is among the most diversified
of all global diversified media and entertainment companies. Moody's
believes that, over the long term, News Corp. will
continue to strengthen its competitive position as a large media conglomerate
by nurturing new business ventures and using its free cash flow generation
to make acquisitions, while generating steady profits and cash flows
from its existing mature media assets.
The rating recognizes the high cyclicality of News Corp.'s earnings
due to the company's material exposure to advertising and consumer spending.
News Corp.'s diversity and liquidity profile have helped the company
to weather a severe economic recession and maintain solid financial flexibility
under tough operating conditions. Management's consistent commitment
to maintain a conservative balance sheet along with the influence of Mr.
Rupert Murdoch's increasingly more conservative views on the credit profile
provide incremental support to the investment grade rating. The
company typically manages leverage below 3.0x, within the
bounds of its rating category. We anticipate the company will maintain
its strong credit metrics, and remain solidly positioned within
its rating category.
The stable outlook assumes that News Corp.'s operating performance
and cash flow generation will continue to remain strong, and leverage
will be sustained between 2.5x- 3.0x. We also
expect that any debt-financed transactions will be followed by
subsequent de-leveraging within a reasonable period, and
that management will maintain a prudent posture towards shareholder-friendly
initiatives.
Upward rating pressure into the "A" category could result from a commitment
to maintaining stronger leverage and cash flow coverage metrics with debt-
to-EBITDA (including Moody's standard adjustments) under 2.5x
and free cash flow conversion in the 35% to 40% range.
Moody's believes that the company has the discretion to impact its ratings,
but balances the opportunity for higher credit ratings with the desire
to maintain healthy financial flexibility.
A downgrade would occur if deviations from conservative financial policies
and aggressive debt-financed acquisitions, share buybacks
or dividend payments result in leverage sustained above 3.0x and
material declines in the company's cash balances, or free cash flow
conversion below 30%. Downward rating pressure could also
occur if the criminal probes and investigations result in wider spreading
evidence of wrongdoing that could materially impact confidence among the
company's advertising clients and consumers. Potential for material
changes in governance would be evaluated for continuity of the company's
commitment to its ratings and conservative credit profile.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was the Large Global Diversified
Media Industry Methodology published in December 2010. Please see
the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this
methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The Global Scale Credit Ratings on this press release that are issued
by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU are considered EU Qualified
by Extension and therefore available for regulatory use in the EU.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available on www.moodys.com.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
public information, confidential and proprietary Moody's Investors
Service information, and confidential and proprietary Moody's
Analytics information.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources. However, Moody's is not
an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate
information received in the rating process.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for general disclosure on potential conflicts of interests.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for information on (A) MCO's major shareholders (above 5%)
and for (B) further information regarding certain affiliations that may
exist between directors of MCO and rated entities as well as (C) the names
of entities that hold ratings from MIS that have also publicly reported
to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%.
A member of the board of directors of this rated entity may also be a
member of the board of directors of a shareholder of Moody's Corporation;
however, Moody's has not independently verified this matter.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is
the most reliable and accurate based on the information that is available
to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has
issued the rating.
Neil Begley
Senior Vice President
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
John Diaz
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's Disclosures on Credit Ratings of News Corporation