Media mogul Rupert Murdoch envisions New York Post as all-digital publication in 10 years time, Wall Street Journal as all digital in 20 years

Mathew Kearney

April 10, 2014 (Thomson Reuters Corp.) – Media mogul Rupert Murdoch can envision his tabloid newspaper the New York Post as an all-digital publication in 10 years, he said during an interview with Fortune magazine published on Thursday.

Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp and 21st Century Fox, acknowledged that the paper lost $40 million in 2012, hit by declines in advertising revenue.

"We're looking at various plans for the Post. We are working very hard on the digital edition," he said.

Murdoch gives the Wall Street Journal, which he purchased in 2007, at least 20 years before it goes all-digital.

It was Murdoch's first extensive interview since 2009. He has since divided his media empire, divorced his third wife, dealt with the fallout of the phone hacking scandal that roiled his British newspapers, and started to put in place a plan for succession that includes his two sons, James and Lachlan. (http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/10/leadership/rupert-murdoch.pr.fortune/)

When asked whether his daughter Elisabeth will get involved in the business again, he said, "It's more than possible. That's all I will say."

Murdoch discussed a range of topics, including News Corp's$600 million purchase of social networking site MySpace - "that was one of our great screwups of all time;" two or more "Avatar" film sequels; and his active tweeting ("My family are horrified that I'm on it.")

On DJX, the ambitious project that bundled its Dow Jones products to compete with Bloomberg LP and Thomson Reuters , Murdoch said the concept was correct but admitted it alienated customers, particularly those of news database Factiva.

Murdoch said that he could live with Democrat Hilary Clinton as the next president of the United States. He said Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan were potential Republican presidential candidates that he admires. (Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.