News Corps ends scandalized year at loss of more than $2 billion

News Corp, one of the world's most powerful publishing conglomerates, is rounding off a scandal-rocked financial year with reports of astonishing capital losses.

As the BBC reports, the company, owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is eyeing an estimated $2.1bn (£1.3bn) loss. These losses were announced as the company filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Committee to officially divide itself into two separately categorize financial entities. Essentially the print and publishing half of the company, which includes The Times, The Sun, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post, and literary publishing giant Harper Collins, would separate from the media, film, and television branch, which includes 20th Century Fox's film studio, as well as Fox News and other media outlets. Earlier this year, the company and the Murdoch family behind it suffered a terrific blow, both to its integrity and its financial status when it shut down its News of The World publication.The closure of the popular paper was a response to an ugly phone-hacking scandal that began a year of bad press for News Corps, as well as an extensive conversation and investigation of their practices and the practices of modern journalists in general. As the BBC reports, the losses were reported as the result of "adverse trends affecting several businesses" among other issues, such as strains to the global economic climate in general. The loss of News of The World was hinted at as the "...sale of certain assets at a value below their carrying value...", according to the BBC. Rupert Murdoch, who will continue to chair and operate as CEO for News Corp as a whole, will now also reportedly become executive chairman of the new publishing branch that will be formed after the split is complete. Mr. Murdoch will face a pay increase said to be "modest".