Whilst the media is focusing on Rupert Murdoch’s claims to have been portrayed as a “genocidal tyrant” during the battle for Dow Jones, the most striking feature of this morning’s 2006-07 News Corp profit is the sheer cash generating power of the old media assets that still dominate the conglomerate’s portfolio.

Sky Italia has now joined the British newspapers and vast US television, cable and film operations as significantly profitable and cash generative businesses.

For all the talk about the Liberty Media peace deal, Myspace purchase and Dow Jones takeover battle, none of them had any material impact on the numbers released to the market this morning.

The operations threw off a record $US4.1 billion in cash for the year – that’s $13 million a day. Sure, the company currently has $US12.5 billion in debt – but there’s also $US7.6 billion in cash or cash equivalents sitting on the balance sheet.

However, don’t for a moment think that the $15 billion buyback with John Malone – which is still yet to close – and the $6 billion purchase of Dow Jones will suddenly crimp the expansionary potential of Rupert’s empire.

Even the $US6 billion share buyback will be continued after it was increased by $US1.3 billion to $US3.9 billion over the year and the plan remains to complete the remaining $US2.1 billion.

The only surprise in the figures is Rupert’s continuing reluctance to pay a normal dividend. A company that declares record net profit of $US 3.4 billion – well up on the $US2.3 billion posted in 2005-06 – would ordinarily reward shareholders with a big payout. And this is real profit because even News Corp’s tax bill has rocketed from $US1.5 billion to a record $US1.8 billion.

Alas, voting shareholders are only getting a miserable 5c final dividend which will cost the company just $US50 million, whilst non-voters score 6c for a total cost of $US131 million.

I reckon Rupert’s scrooge mentality to dividends is because he’d rather his record be measured by share price appreciation.

Total shareholder return is the fairest way to measure a company’s performance and when you include News Corp’s pathetic dividend record, it has severely underperformed the Australian market over the past 20 years.

That said, if you bought the stock any time between 1989 and 1992, you’re still well in front because that’s when it almost disappeared under a pile of debt. This will never happen again given the strong operating performance across the empire and the earnings power of the assets Rupert has added to the fold – largely through the frenetic issuance of non-voting shares over the past 12 years.