News No. 1 in the world with $67.8 bil
By Paul Bond
Oct 22, 2007

About the same time that Rupert Murdoch was telling shareholders that his beloved News Corp. had become the world's most valuable media conglomerate, the company's worth was in the midst of sinking by $1.53 billion. But Friday's massive stock market sell-off didn't alter Murdoch's message. By the end of Friday trading, News Corp. sported a market capitalization of $67.79 billion, larger than Time Warner, the former biggest media company in the world.

Friday's stock market swoon, which sent the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 377 points, or 2.6%, coincided with the 20th anniversary of Black Monday, when the Dow dropped 23% in a day. Media companies held up much better Friday than did the broader markets, with The Hollywood Reporter Showbiz 50 index falling a relatively scant 1.8%. Still, the media conglomerates took their lumps. Disney saw $1.9 billion in value disappear, Sony lost $1.59 billion, and Time Warner, like News Corp., dropped by $1.53 billion.

When it was all said and done Friday, the list of the world's largest media conglomerates, based on market cap, looked like this: News Corp. was first at $67.79 billion, followed by Time Warner ($67.32 billion), Disney ($65.62 billion), Sony ($45.29 billion), Viacom ($26.98 billion) and CBS ($21.11 billion).

Throwing a wrinkle into that order is Google, which some might consider a "media" company and which sports a whopping $201.24 billion market cap. When most stocks were tumbling Friday, Google was rising. Most analysts, however, categorize Google -- parent of YouTube and the world's premier online search destination -- as an Internet or technology company.

The Hollywood Reporter
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