News Corp lifts 23%
Digital real estate, book publishing lead the way
NEWS Corp has chalked up a 23 per cent jump in revenue for the past quarter, helped by its extensive digital real estate and book publishing operations.
The media heavyweight yesterday booked revenue of $US2.52 billion ($3.46 billion) for the three months to September, in line with market expectations. That was up from $US2.06 billion a year earlier.
Net income surged 47 per cent to $US128 million from $US87 million a year earlier.
News Corp chief Robert Thomson said the new financial year was off to an “impressive start”.
The revenue and earnings growth reaffirmed the company’s strategy to “focus on digital development, and to put particular emphasis on subscriptions as the advertising market continues to evolve”, Mr Thomson said.
On a call with analysts and media, he said the transition to digital continued “and we will strive as a company to change the contours of the content landscape for the sake of our businesses and our societies”.
News Corp was in “active negotiations” with technology titans Google, Facebook and Amazon, and was talking to politicians and regulators in Australia, Europe, the UK and the US, he said.
Mr Thomson said the proposal by executive chairman Rupert Murdoch for technology companies to pay a carriage fee for content from trusted publishers was “gathering momentum”.
On the conference call, he described the advertising market as “choppy”.
News Corp, publisher of mastheads including the Herald Sun, The Australian , The Wall Street Journal and the Gold Coast Bulletin, reported strong paid digital subscriber growth at many of its mastheads.
News Corp’s digital real estate services operations booked an 8 per cent rise in revenue to $US293 million.