**News Corp. Dumps Fox Web Sites, Layoffs Follow
In a major restructuring move, News Corp., owner of the Fox TV networks in the United States, will be moving operations of the Fox Web sites back to the TV networks, eliminating hundreds of jobs at its News Digital Media division. The move will reportedly save the company about "tens of millions of dollars in the near term," according to spokesman Andrew Butcher.The transition, announced late Thursday night, is expected to take place in six months. The Fox News Channel will take over FoxSports.com and Fox Broadcasting Co. will run Fox.com. News Corp. wants to reduce costs at the Web sites because the company does not expect advertising sales on the sites to be lucrative.
Lachlan Murdoch, the son of chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch, said News Corp. now sees the Web sites as a means of marketing its Fox TV networks, and not as major profits centers for the company.
