News Corp NWSA 2.21%
Earnings declined slightly in the most recent quarter as foreign exchange fluctuations and a decline in book publishing offset continued growth at The Wall Street Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones & Company.
The New York-based media company, which owns journals, HarperCollins Publishers, and news outlets in the UK and Australia, reported revenue of $2.48 billion, down less than 1% from the year-ago quarter. Net income decreased 80% to $40 million, or 7 cents per share, from $196 million, or 33 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
“The macro environment is clearly volatile, but the results highlight News Corp’s resilience,” said Chief Executive Officer Robert Thomson.
News Corp said decision by Amazon.com Ltd.
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Reduced inventory levels and warehouse closures accounted for almost all of the 11% revenue decline at book publishing division HarperCollins. The change has reduced sales of paper books from Amazon, the company said.
The company said it expects Amazon’s impact to be temporary.
The only News Corp division to report revenue growth in the quarter was Dow Jones, publisher of Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch, which saw revenue grow 16% to $515 million, with segment revenue of 19 % increase to $113 million.
News Corp calculates segment profit as revenue less operating and administrative expenses. Segment profit excludes charges such as interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, impairment and restructuring charges, and other items.
Journals averaged 3.157 million digital subscriptions during the period, an increase of 62,000 from the previous quarter. Including the print edition, the average number of journal subscriptions during this period was 3,778,000. According to the company, the average total number of subscriptions for Dow Jones consumer products has reached 4.922 million.
The company said it recently began rolling out more bundled features for Dow Jones subscribers that include multiple Dow Jones products. “The benefits of these bundles, which Dow Jones just launched, will become apparent over the next six months,” Thomson said.
Despite gains in digital advertising, the company said it expects a tougher second quarter, citing weaker comparisons to the previous quarter.
News Corp’s other news outlets, including the New York Post, The Sun, The Times in the UK and a number of Australian newspapers reported a 4% decline in revenue and a 47% decline in segment revenue.
The company’s digital real estate services division reported a 1.2% decline in revenue and a 14% decline in segment profit. News Corp owns majority stake in his REA Group Ltd.
a publicly traded digital real estate company, owns an 80% stake in Move Inc., an online real estate business based in Santa Clara, California, and primarily operates the website Realtor.com. .
Newscorp’s subscription video services division, which includes Australian pay-TV provider Foxtel, reported a 1.6% decline in revenue and a 2.6% decline in segment profit, partly due to the negative impact of foreign exchange fluctuations and a decline in housing. broadcast subscribers.
News Corp announced last month that its board of directors has formed a special committee to consider reuniting with Fox. Ltd.
, about ten years after the two companies split. Thomson said Thursday there was no certainty that the company would be involved in such a deal, and had no further comment.
Write to Alexandra Bruell at alexandra.bruell@wsj.com
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