News Corp Posts Higher Revenue, Profits

News Corp posted higher revenue and profits in its recently completed quarter, as the media company’s increased focus on digital subscriptions helped it offset a decline in advertising revenue.

The New York-based company, which owns The Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins Publishers, said revenue rose 2.6% to $2.59 billion, with the only decline coming from its unit that owns news organizations in the U.K. and Australia as well as the New York Post.

News Corp earned $156 million, or 27 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $67 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. News Corp attributed the increase in part to revenue growth and savings related to a previously announced 5% reduction in staff levels.

Mark Thompson

Chief Executive Robert Thomson said the company continued to benefit from its “strategic shift to digital and subscription revenues, and away from sometimes volatile advertising revenues.”

The company’s biggest revenue and profit contributor was Dow Jones, the publisher of the Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch, with revenue of $584 million and segment earnings of $163 million. News Corp calculates segment earnings as revenue less operating and administrative expenses.

The Journal averaged 3.528 million digital subscriptions in the quarter, an increase of 71,000 from the previous quarter, when it averaged 3.457 million. Including the print edition, total subscriptions to the Journal averaged 4.052 million subscriptions.

Thomson also mentioned the continued detention by Russia of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, stating that Gershkovich “continues to be unjustly detained in a Moscow prison, solely for being a highly professional journalist.”

• News Corp’s advertising revenue fell by 5.6% to $438 million, while circulation and subscription revenue rose 3.1% to $1.12 billion.
• Revenue at the digital real-estate services group increased 8.5% while segment earnings rose 15%.
• Revenue at HarperCollins Publishers rose 3.6%, while segment earnings rose 67%.
• Key books for HarperCollins included Ree Drummond’s “The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Dinner’s Ready!” and Mitch Albom’s novel “The Little Liar.”
• The News media unit, home of titles like the Times of London and the Australian, saw revenue slip by 2.8% and earnings fall by 12%.