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News Corp. is contemplating what once was unthinkable splitting its entertainment and publishing operations into separate companies. The company Tuesday confirmed that it was considering a breakup of the $52-billion global media conglomerate.

The lucrative film and television operations including the 20th Century Fox film studio, the top-rated Fox broadcast network and the profitable Fox News Channel would form one company. News Corp.'s newspapers, HarperCollins book publishing assets and education businesses would comprise a second publicly traded company.

Wall Street has agitated for years for News Corp. to shed its slow-growth newspaper holdings, which include the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the Times of London, the British Sun tabloid and papers in Australia. But Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, who built his powerful media empire from a single newspaper in Australia, long had resisted the idea.

Investors welcomed the news of a possible spinoff, driving News Corp. shares up 8.3% in trading Tuesday to $21.76.

No final decision has been reached, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The Wall Street Journal first reported the possible restructuring, a concept that has been debated internally. The Journal said Murdoch recently warmed to the idea.

"That is a very significant move of historic type," said Claire Enders, a British media analyst who has followed News Corp. for at least two decades.

The shift comes after nearly a year of turmoil following revelations that reporters for Murdoch's News of the World tabloid in London had hacked into voice mail messages left for a missing 13-year-old girl, who was later found slain.

Allegations of widespread illegal phone hacking led News Corp. to close down the News of the World tabloid and abandon a $12-billion bid to acquire all outstanding shares in the profitable satellite TV provider British Sky Broadcasting it doesn't already own. Numerous former company executives have been arrested in connection with an investigation by Scotland Yard, including Rebekah Brooks, the former head of the company's News International unit.

The damage has reached the Murdoch family. The 81-year-old media baron was criticized in a report from a parliamentary committee as being unfit to run an international company. Murdoch's youngest son, James, resigned as chairman of BSkyB this spring, ahead of the damning parliamentary report.

The scandal also has taken a financial toll on the company, which has incurred some $167 million in legal fees and civil settlements paid to victims of the phone hacking.

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Media giant News Corp. considering breakup