News Corp says hacking scandal has cost it $200m - papers

Phone hacking at News International has cost Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation nearly $200m (£126m) to date, the company said last night, as it warned it could not predict the final bill.

News Corp said it had booked an $87m charge in the final three months of 2011, "related to the costs of the ongoing investigations initiated upon the closure of The News of the World", taking the total cost of investigations to $104m, writes the Telegraph.

The $17m from the first quarter had not previously been disclosed.

About 85% of the charge related to "fees to outside lawyers and advisers working on various investigations and committee hearings in the UK". The remaining 15% related to legal settlements, implying payouts to hacking victims of about $15m.

News Corp had previously disclosed a $91m charge in its first quarter results, primarily related to restructuring its UK newspaper business following the closure of The News of the World amid the hacking scandal.

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