Murdoch's News Corp posts 15% slide in Q1 earnings as ad revenue slips; Profit jumps 31%

The Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp has announced financial results for the first quarter that ended Sep. 30. While, net profit jumped 31.2 percent to US$143 million (AU$199.7 million) in three months, the revenue declined for the third straight quarter, stung by strong dollar and plummeting print ad sales.

Ad revenue down

The net income got a boost in the September quarter because of a one-time tax benefit related to the sale of its digital-education business. Revenue fell 4 percent due to foreign currency fluctuations and print advertising weakness.

But the silver lining was company's digital real estate services comprising the US website realtor.com and Australian REA Group putting up a strong performance. That segment gave a healthy 70.5 percent surge in revenue to hit US$191 million (AU$267 million).

There was 11 percent fall in revenue at the news and information business at $1.29 billion (AU$1.81 billion) in the first quarter. The 13 percent decline in advertising revenue sharply affected the segment's revenues.

Revenue details

In the first-quarter, total revenue fell 4.5 percent to US$2.01 billion (AU$2.82 billion) from US$2.11 billion (AU$2.95 billion) in the year-earlier period. But net profit zoomed 31.2 percent to US$143 million (AU$199.7 million). The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 15 percent to US$165 million (AU$230.4).

“News Corp is on track in its transition to a more digital and global future, having successfully integrated several recent acquisitions and built a powerful platform for future growth,” Chief Executive Robert Thomson said in a statement.

He said the focus will be on driving sustainable expansion of revenue and profit, and leveraging the potency of brands, while controlling costs to maximise long-term returns for investors. The CEO noted that foreign exchange relations fluctuations did impact results, but it could not obscure the progress of the businesses.

Thomson attributed “advertising softness” in Australia and negative currency impacts for the drop in news revenue.

News Corp, which owns the Wall street Journal, is a diversified media and information services company, operating in five segments: news and information services, cable network programming, digital real estate services, book publishing, and other, observed Moneyflow Index report.

Meanwhile, Bedi Singh, News Corp’s chief financial officer, said a review of the Australian business is due and the company is “looking for additional operating efficiencies in the short-term.”

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