Credit: Kevin Bessat via Unsplash
News Corp reported a 1% increase in revenue to $US2.01 billion in the March quarter, driven by growth in financial publisher Dow Jones, digital real estate services and book publishing.
Net income was up 67% to $107 million. Reported earnings per share from continuing operations doubled to $0.14 and margins expanded in every segment.
“The sustained strength of News Corp’s third quarter reflects the company’s strategic transformation,” said CEO Robert Thomson.
“We have pursued digital growth, realigned our assets, focused relentlessly on cost discipline and asserted the essential value of our intellectual property in a changing, challenging content world.”
Dow Jones revenue was up 6% to $575 million, driven by higher circulation and subscriptions and continued growth in the professional information business.
Digital at Dow Jones represented 82% of total revenue compared to 81% in the same quarter last year.
In the news media division, revenue fell 8% to $514 million. Digital contributed 39%, up from 37% in the prior year, and represented 37% of the combined revenue of the newspaper mastheads.
News media advertising revenue fell 9%, including a 2% negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations, primarily due to lower print advertising revenues across the group and lower digital advertising revenues at News UK, mainly at The Sun.
Digital subscribers at News Corp Australia were 1,148,000 (981,000 for news mastheads), compared to 1,113,000 (966,000 for news mastheads) in the same three months last year.
Thomson said the result came despite blustery currency headwinds and obvious macro uncertainty.
“Dow Jones was a highlight of the quarter, achieving improved revenue and profit growth, including double-digit revenue growth in digital circulation and at both Risk and Compliance and Dow Jones Energy,” he said.
“We continued to invest in the Professional Information Business, and have just completed the acquisition of Oxford Analytica and Dragonfly Intelligence.
“The enduring importance of quality journalism cannot be underestimated in the midst of a political and economic maelstrom.
“The currency of credibility will become even more crucial as AI continues its exponential growth and inevitably blurs the lines between the actual and the anthropomorphic.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.