News Corp. Spinoff to Start Out With $2.6 Billion in Cash

News Corp.’s publishing spinoff will be armed with $2.6 billion in cash and no debt, demonstrating Chairman Rupert Murdoch’s passion for print even as the new company confronts an industry in decline.

The cash pile could come in handy for acquisitions or just to shore up the publishing business, which includes the Wall Street Journal in the U.S. and the Sun newspaper in the U.K. The unit, which will become a separate publicly held business in June, will also have access to a revolving credit line, New York-based News Corp. said today in a filing.