Post-split, what’s next for News Corp.?

After much speculation, Rupert Murdoch is going full steam ahead with plans to split News Corp. into two separate entities, one for its entertainment properties and the other for publishing. “We will wow the world as two, as opposed to merely one,” Murdoch wrote in a memo to staff announcing the split. But now questions are focused on just what will happen to the media conglomerate’s publishing arm—and how far Murdoch will go with his digital ambitions. As GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram asked, “Assuming that chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch is interested in seeing that newspaper-only unit succeed—as opposed to just selling it to someone else or slowly liquidating it—what would he have to do in order to make that happen?” Murdoch has in the past been quick to put up pay walls (such as with the Times, which drew some criticism) and has made efforts to push the digital side of the print business. For instance, The Daily, a digital newspaper designed specifically for tablets, has yet to prove itself as a model that can actually work, but the venture made it clear that Murdoch sees a bright future in digital news.

Nevertheless, some are skeptical that the publishing side will be able to flourish on its own. “If Murdoch’s empire cleaves in two, his newspapers will no longer be able to count on the latest blockbuster to disguise their financial woes,” wrote Nieman Journalism Lab’s Ken Doctor. “Media ain’t what it used to be. And now it’s businesses like Fox Sports, Searchlight Films, and Sky Italia more than old newsprint-based life forms.” Others were more optimistic. “The News Corp analysts we spoke with, not surprisingly, like the idea of a restructured the company—but perhaps more interestingly, they are also optimistic about the prospects of a standalone publishing corporation,” wrote paidContent’s Jeff John Roberts. And GigaOm’s Ingram offered up some advice for the publishing arm, saying that if News Corp. wants to make the transition to a digital future, it should follow in the footsteps of the Wall Street Journal: “Let content flow through different channels like the Pulse app or Flipboard and find readers wherever they are, and then monetize that content where it is being consumed instead of pushing people to a website.”

• News Corp. Board Approves Split in Principle (Wall Street Journal)

• Murdoch vows to load publishing division with cash in News Corp. split (Associated Press)

• News Corp. Announces Spinoff of Newspapers (NY Times)

• What the future of a News Corp. newspaper spinoff should look like (GigaOm)

• News Corp. Explains Its Big Split (AllThingsD)

• News Corp. split would create 21st Century Fox (paidContent)

• The newsonomics of the News Corp split (Nieman Journalism Lab)

• Stay Tuned For News Corp.‘s Primetime Profits (Forbes)

• Murdoch, Announcing News Corp. Split, Calls Newspapers ‘Viable’ and ‘Undervalued’ (NY Times)

• Why investors might buy a News Corp publishing spinoff (paidContent)