Rupert Murdoch's News International has placed a freeze on staff hiring and plans to crack down on expenses amid fears of a global downturn in advertising revenues.

The group, which owns the Sun, News of the World and Sunday Times, is also fearful of rising paper costs.

The cutbacks coincide with the closure of eVentures, an internet investment venture set up by Mr Murdoch and Japan ese venture capital group Softbank.

Dow Jones, owner of US financial newspaper the Wall Street Journal, yesterday issued a profits warning due to declining advertising sales at the publication. That unsettled shares in Financial Times owner Pearson, despite later assurances from the company that the FT's circulation and advertising were well up on last year.

News International advertising revenues have been strong in recent weeks as consumer-focused companies rush to advertise in the run-up to Christmas. However, executives believe demand might diminish after the January sales.

Several newspaper and television groups are already feeling a chill wind from declining advertising spend this winter.

Sales boomed last year, thanks largely to lavish dot.com advertising campaigns but turbulent stock markets and cash-flow problems at several internet busi nesses mean that spend will not be repeated.

eVentures was set up to bring successful US internet businesses to Europe. ePartners, a News Corp-backed unit headed by former BSkyB chief executive Mark Booth, was a 50% shareholder.

Mr Murdoch has struggled to replicate in the online arena his commercial successes in other media. News International's web strategy has seen several shifts and several sites have been shut or face closure.