Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

NOTE 7. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

	Useful Lives	As of June 30,
		2020		2019
		(in millions)
Land		$	123	$	146
Buildings and leaseholds	3 to 50 years	1,473		1,729
Digital set top units and installations	3 to 10 years	1,006		911
Machinery and equipment	2 to 20 years	1,680		1,792
Capitalized software	2 to 13 years	1,402		1,331
Finance lease right-of-use assets	15 years	124		—
		5,808		5,909
Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization(a)		(3,667)		(3,524)
		2,141		2,385
Construction in progress		115		169
Total Property, plant and equipment, net		$	2,256	$	2,554

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(a)Includes accumulated amortization of capitalized software of approximately $921 million and $818 million as of June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Depreciation and amortization related to property, plant and equipment was $537 million, $533 million and $372 million for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. This includes amortization of capitalized software of $231 million, $218 million and $175 million for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Fixed Asset Impairments

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, the Company recognized total fixed asset impairment charges of $203 million at News UK and News Corp Australia.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, as part of the Company’s long-range planning process, the Company reduced its outlook for the U.K. and Australian newspapers due to the impact of adverse print advertising and print circulation trends on the future expected performance of the business, which were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Company recognized non-cash impairment charges of approximately $148 million and $55 million related to the write-down of fixed assets at its U.K. newspapers and Australian newspapers reporting units, respectively. The write-downs were primarily related to print sites, printing presses and print related equipment and capitalized software. Significant unobservable inputs utilized in the income approach valuation method for News UK were a discount rate of 9.5% and a long-term growth rate of (1.0)% and for News Australia were a discount rate of 11.5% and a 0.0% long term growth rate.