New Corp. is reportedly laying off staff almost three months after it first confirmed plans to sell its mobile business all together. Fox Mobile is cutting around 75 employees, of 15% of its staff in Germany, and making cuts in other markets as well, according to mocoNews.
The layoffs are expected to hit across the board, but senior management will be spared. News Corp. first got into the mobile space in 2006 with a 51% purchase of Jamba, a Berlin-based ringtone outfit. Two years later, it bought the remaining interest in the company from VeriSign Inc. to form Fox Mobile Group.
The exact impact the mobile business is having on the company is tough to quantify since it lumps it together in an “other” category that includes its outdoor business and MySpace. But both MySpace and Fox Mobile Group appear to be on the auction block now as News Corp. most likely pursues a fresh start in digital and mobile space from within, rather than via acquisition.