News Corp’s newspaper revenue hit
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has suffered an 85 per cent fall in quarterly profit to $US48 million ($A51.93 million).
The profit for the three months to March 31 was down from $US323 million in the same period a year earlier, when it made a one-off gain on the sale of Sky Network Television in New Zealand.
Excluding one-off items, News Corp’s quarterly profit was $US66 million ($A71.41 million), down from $US73 million a year ago.
The publishing company includes Murdoch’s global newspaper empire and was demerged in 2013 from the more profitable TV and movie operations, which are now called 21st Century Fox.
Its Australian operations include newspaper mastheads such as The Australian, The Advertiser and Herald Sun, as well as Fox Sports and a 50 per cent stake in Foxtel.
The company’s revenue fell five per cent in the quarter to $US2.08 billion ($A2.25 billion), due to weaker advertising revenues in its news division, which includes newspapers and websites, plus a weaker Australian dollar.
"Revenue from News Corp’s Australian newspapers fell by 21 per cent, due to a slide in print advertising and subscriptions, as well as currency impacts."
News Corp paid STG46 million ($A84 million) in fees related to the fallout from the UK phone-hacking scandal during the three months to March, up from $US34 million in the same period a year ago.
Earnings from Foxtel in the quarter of $US23 million ($A24.89 million) were up from $US17 million in the previous corresponding period.
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News Corp’s cable television division, which includes Fox Sports, posted an eight per cent rise in earnings to $US2 million ($A2.16 million), due partly to lower costs, as a result of losing the broadcast rights to the Twenty20 Big Bash cricket league to Network Ten.
Chief executive Robert Thomson said the company was continuing to expand into areas other than journalism, highlighting the recent decision to buy romance novel house Harlequin.
“Through the planned acquisition of Harlequin we will extend the global reach not only of HarperCollins but of the broader News Corp, which will clearly benefit from that company’s commercial infrastructure,” he said.
The company’s acquisition of social news agency Storyful had also boosted the company’s digital business, Thomson said.
