Rupert Murdoch Looks At Star To Lead Group's International Revenue

MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate 21st Century Fox is betting big on its subsidiary Star to lead its international growth.

"Top opportunity continues to be international, led by Star, which clearly is going to lead a lot of our international growth," 21st Century Fox chief financial officer John Nallen told an industry summit over the weekend.

"One of the top priorities, uniquely for us is international. We've got a particular focus on growth outside the US. We continue to harness the assets we have in Star, FIC (Fox International Channels) and in Sky but we continue to be opportunistic to the extent we can outside the US," according to a webcast on the company's website.

Nallen was addressing an industry seminar in California last week.

Star India, which is a fully owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, broadcasts over 40 channels in seven languages, reaching more than 720 million every week across 100 countries.

Nallen further said Star is on target to achieve an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) of USD 500 million by 2018.

In April, James Murdoch, the present chief executive of 21st Century Fox, had said Star India is likely to earn operating income of USD 1 billion by 2020.

Morgan Stanley recently pegged Star TV's value at USD 11.2 billion.

The American brokerage estimated the fair market value of Star on the basis of rising ad revenue from India and said the firm contributed 11.3 per cent to the overall fair market value of 21st Century Fox.
As of June 2015, Star's earnings from entertainment business stood at USD 300 million. 

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