New York  - News Corp, the sprawling media conglomerate headed by Rupert Murdoch, reported a 6.4-billion-dollar second- quarter loss Thursday from a massive write down of its media assets combined with lower profits at its movie and television units.

The company also slashed its fiscal 2009 outlook, saying that its operating income would be 30 per cent lower than in 2008 because of the dire economic environment.

"Our results for the quarter are a direct reflection of the grim economic climate," said Murdoch in a statement. "The downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought. The company is implementing "rigorous cost-cutting," including "major" expense reductions at local TVs, he added.

News Corp said it had taken an 8.4 billion dollar charge on the declining value of its media assets that accounted for most of the quarterly losss. Sales were also sharply down, coming in at 7.87 billion dollars, an 8.4 per cent drop over last year's figures.

The dismal figures sent the company's shares down some 5 per cent in after hours trading. They came after the company's main competitors, Disney and Time Warner, also posted disappointing results that underlined how deeply the global recession has hit media companies.

Murdoch said that the company was trying to aggressively cut costs as the advertising environment dried up. "The big thing that really is killing us is the lack of automobile advertising," Murdoch said.

That helped explain a 19 per cent drop in local television ad sales, but it was the general economic malaise that the sent News Corps film profits down 72 per cent on declining film sales. (dpa)