Now that News Corp. is going green, should you invest?
Photo:mikegoat, Creative Commons, Flickr
News Corp.(NWS), the media giant behind the popular Fox News channel, movie studios and distribution, and the company that is trying to buy Dow Jones (and, therefore, The Wall Street Journal), is not a company one would normally associate with "green" behavior. But if you have been wanting to buy News Corp. stock but have been held back by owner Rupert Murdoch's cold, capitalist ways, now may be your chance. News Corp. is going green, unveiling an ambitious plan to become carbon neutral by 2010. The company even hired advisors to help in the efforts to reduce carbon emissions and purchase carbon offset credits. Rupert Murdoch is already purchasing carbon offsets from Indian wind power projects.
What are some of the other moves that Rupert Murdoch plans in his personal green crusade? Here's a sampling:
- He now drives a hybrid
- Murdoch is considering using solar-powered golf carts to shuttle people about on his movie lots
- 70 percent of the power for his U.K. operations will now come from hydroelectric plants in Scotland
With increased emphasis by many on the environmental and national security concerns associated with energy investing, this may prove to be a good move for News Corp., a company that has been seeing a bit of a dip in its stock lately. Indeed, if word gets out that News Corp. is trying to be not only successful as a company, but also environmentally responsible, it might turn out that its current stock price is a real value.
Disclosure: I do not own any News Corp. stock. Not even as part of the mutual funds in my IRA.