New York: Rupert Murdoch said on Wednesday stress in the US economy is squeezing advertising budgets, adding that News Corp’s Fox Interactive Media would miss an ambitious $1 billion annual revenue goal by 10%.

But FIM, which oversees the MySpace online social network, is a “very healthy” business and expects “well over” $1 billion in revenue in fiscal 2009, Murdoch said on News Corp’s fiscal third-quarter earnings conference call.

“There’s no doubt the consumer economy is stressed. You’re seeing it affected in advertising, more short-term planning and booking,” said the News Corp chairman and chief executive.

The media conglomerate said fiscal third-quarter profit tripled on higher advertising sales at the Fox TV network and Fox News Channel, as well as a $1.7 billion onetime gain from its stock swap with Liberty Media.

Source : DNA