News Corp Could Lose $1.6 Billion From Phone Hacking Scandal: Top Exec

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp could be facing an estimated $1.62 billion in costs as a result of the phone hacking scandal, one of the company's top executives revealed in a meeting that was secretly recorded and leaked to the media.

"There's a shitload of just financial expense -- across the civil cases," said Tom Mockridge, the former head of News Corp's British newspaper division. "The hacking probably, by the time it's all over, is going to cost News Corp minimum of £500 million, if not a billion." Mockridge's estimate differs substantially from the figures previously announced by the company. Earlier estimates put the cost to News Corp at around $448 million.