Strong surge in revenue for News Corp

MEDIA heavyweight News Corp has posted a 13 per cent jump in pre-tax earnings for the past quarter, helped by a surge in revenue.

It came largely due to the consolidation of its Australian subscription TV operation Foxtel as well as strength in the group’s digital real estate and book publishing operations.

News Corp, publisher of the Mercury newspaper, recorded a 21 per cent rise in revenue to $US2.63 billion ($A3.71 billion) in the three months to the end of December, in line with estimates.

Company chief executive Robert Thomson said the results across New Corp’s newspaper, television and digital publishing businesses highlighted “the power of premium content and authenticated audiences in a fact-challenged world that craves credibility”.

He welcomed moves by regulators around the world, including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, to scrutinise the activity of social media companies and search engines.

The company’s second quarter net profit of $US119 million compared with a loss of $US66 million for the same period a year earlier. For the six months to December, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were $US728 million, up 22 per cent on the same half a year ago.

News Corp reported strong paid digital subscriber growth at its newspapers, which include the Mercury, Herald Sun, The Australian, The Wall Street Journal and The Times. Digital subscribers accounted for more than 35 per cent of the publishing business’s total subscriber base. News Corp Australia’s mastheads had 460,300 digital subscribers at the end of September, up from 389,600 a year earlier.

News Corp’s locally listed voting shares closed 2.7 per cent higher at $18.82.