News Corp. Plans Move to N.Y.

Nearly 20 years after Rupert Murdoch gave up his Australian citizenship to become an American, the media conglomerate he controls is following suit.

By the end of the year, News Corp. -- owner of the Fox network, Fox News Channel and the 20th Century Fox movie studio -- hopes to move its home base from Australia to New York in a bid to appeal to a wider base of investors. Its primary stock listing would also move to the New York Stock Exchange from the Australian exchange.

The planned move, announced Tuesday, marked a milestone for the company, which began more than 50 years ago in Murdoch’s native Australia when he inherited a small south Australian newspaper business from his father, Keith Murdoch.

Since then, the company has evolved into a major global media conglomerate with its strongest base in the U.S. market, where it generates more than 75% of its revenue and profit.

News Corp. has been managed on an operational basis from New York for years, but analysts said the group had opted to maintain its main listing in Australia to avoid capital gains charges on acquisitions.

Murdoch said the company’s formal status as a foreign issuer in U.S. financial markets was limiting investments from several major institutional investors, some of which have limits on how much foreign stock they can own.

In addition, the move to incorporate in the United States -- still subject to approval by regulators, tax authorities and shareholders -- could allow News Corp. to be listed on major U.S. stock indexes such as the Standard & Poor’s 500, which could also help widen the company’s base of shareholders.

News Corp. indicated that it did not have any immediate plans to change the status of its U.S.-listed subsidiary Fox Entertainment Group, which holds several key entertainment assets including its TV and movie businesses.

The move did not appear related to any issues of foreign ownership of TV businesses because Murdoch had been cleared to own U.S. broadcast properties since he gave up his Australian citizenship in 1985.

News Corp.’s U.S.-listed shares, depositary receipts for Australian shares, rose 55 cents to $37.43 on the New York Stock Exchange. Fox Entertainment Group’s shares fell 27 cents to $28.40 on the NYSE.

Under the proposed changes, existing holders of ordinary and preferred shares and holders of ordinary and preferred American depositary shares would exchange their equity for equivalent stock in a new News Corp.