News Corporation’s board has unanimously agreed to split the company into two entities. As suspected, The Wall Street Journal confirms that the News Corp.’s publishing brands will be on one side and its movie and TV businesses will be on the other.

All Things D obtained a memo from Rupert Murdoch which explains that he will be chairman of both companies and CEO of the entertainment side. There is still no word on who will be manning the publishing arm, which might be in trouble without the cushion provided by News Corp.’s massively profitable brands.

“Without deeper cost-cutting, given print advertising’s continuing spiral downward, the new company’s thin seven percent profit margin would disappear quickly,” explained Ken Doctor, an analyst at Outsell.

The process of splitting News Corp. in two is expected to take about a year, so we’ll have plenty of time to second guess and ponder the move until then.