News Corp. Settles with Valassis Communications for $500 Million

NEW YORK CITY—January 30, 2010—News Corp. today announced it has settled with Valassis Communications Inc. for $500 million in a lawsuit filed against the company’s News America Marketing (NAM) unit that was scheduled to go to trial in a Michigan federal court on February 2, 2010. The settlement also covers the $300 million Valassis was awarded in July in a Michigan circuit court that is currently on appeal and a pending state court case in California.

Under the terms of the settlement, NAM will also enter into a 10-year shared mail distribution agreement with Valassis Direct Mail, a Valassis subsidiary. In addition, the judge will issue a permanent injunction related to certain business practices at issue in the lawsuits.

“It has become evident to our legal advisors from pre-trial proceedings over the past couple of weeks that significant risks were developing in presenting this case to a jury,” said News Corporation Deputy Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer, Chase Carey. “That, coupled with concerns over the venue, led us to believe it was in the best interests of the company and its stockholders to agree to a settlement.”

"I am pleased that we were able to reach a mutually agreeable settlement and avoid protracted future litigation," said Alan F. Schultz, Valassis Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

News Corp.
News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of September 30, 2009 of approximately US$55 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$30 billion. News Corporation is a diversified global media company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; integrated marketing services; newspapers and information services; book publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Latin America.

About Valassis
Valassis is one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, offering unparalleled reach and scale to more than 15,000 advertisers. Its RedPlum media portfolio delivers value on a weekly basis to over 100 million shoppers across a multi-media platform - in-home, in-store and in-motion. Through its interactive offering - redplum.com - consumers will find compelling national and local deals online. Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan with approximately 7,000 associates in 28 states and eight countries, Valassis is widely recognized for its associate and corporate citizenship programs, including its America's Looking for Its Missing Children(R) program. Valassis companies include Valassis Direct Mail, Inc., Valassis Canada, Promotion Watch, Valassis Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC and NCH Marketing Services, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.valassis.com or http://www.redplum.com.