The Sun recorded a loss of £68 million last year as the cost of phone-hacking claims continues to bite.
Declining readership of its print publication also contributed to the bleak financial picture, with paid circulation dipping below 1.1m copies a day.
Legal fees
Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers spent an enormous £54 million on legal fees and damages related to the illegal interception of voicemails.
The figures, which cover the 12 months to July 2019, were revealed in accounts filed this weekend.
They show that more a decade after the phone-hacking scandal began, the company is still spending an eighth of its revenue dealing with the fallout, as new cases involving the likes of Prince Harry continue to be filed at the high court.
Could have been much worse
The losses could have been much worse had the company not received a windfall as a result of the collapse of its Sun Bets gambling venture.
The joint venture with the Australian betting company Tabcorp was considered such a disaster by the bookmaker that it paid the newspaper a £39.5 million fee to exit the deal early.
The Sun has previously said it would welcome a new partner for its gambling operation, although it has yet to find a replacement and accounts suggest there is more potential growth at its Sun Bingo operation.
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