News Corp posts record

NEWS Corp shares surged after it recorded its highest quarterly revenues since 2013, pushing earnings to a record $US262M ($367m) for the three months ending December 31.

The company said total revenue for the quarter rose to $Us2.72bn, a 13 per cent rise compared to the previous corresponding period.

Earnings rose to $US586M, compared to $US497M in the prior year.

News Corp shares rallied 5.7 per cent, or $1.81, higher to $33.38 on Friday.

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said the company’s businesses were “thriving, particularly at the digital real estate services, Dow Jones and book publishing segments”.

“There was a pronounced surge in profitability at our news media segment,” he said.

“Meanwhile, Foxtel’s streaming products flourished, with a 66 per cent increase in total customers, and Kayo and Binge both exceeded one million.”

Earnings from news media rose 68 per cent for the three months to the end of December – to $US111M, compared to $US66M in the prior year.

Earnings at the Dow Jones also rose sharply, up 32 per cent, from $US109M to $US144M, the company said.

Foxtel’s total paid subscribers stood at more than 3.9 million as of December 31, a 19 per cent increase to the prior year, primarily due to the Binge and Kayo streaming services.

There are now more than one million Kayo subscribers, compared to 648,000 in the prior year.

Binge also has more than one million subscribers, an increase from 468,000.

Mr Thomson said that while sports seasonality was always a factor in streaming numbers, total streaming rose by 66 per cent year on year.

The company said its news media segment, which publishes this masthead, recorded an increase in revenues due to the recovery of the advertising market from pandemic-induced lows, and from higher circulation and subscription revenues.

Advertising revenue rose 17 per cent, or $42m, driven by “growth in digital advertising across the businesses due to improved yields and higher impressions” and the recovery of print advertising in Britain. In Australia, digital subscriptions across the business rose from 779,000 in the prior year to 909,000.

“Our digital trends are particularly pleasing, which speaks to the value of our global network, and improvements in our understanding of permissioned data,” Mr Thomson said.