By Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg
News Corp reported revenue and profit gains for its fiscal first quarter, driven by growth in its digital real estate services and book-publishing segments.
Quarterly revenue at the company, whose properties include The Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins Publishers, increased 3% to $2.58 billion, meeting analyst expectations. Revenue rose in four of the company's segments, with the exception of its news media unit, which owns the New York Post and other publications.
News Corp earned $119 million, or 21 cents per share, better than analysts expected. A year ago, the company reported earnings of $30 million, or 5 cents per share.
Class A shares were flat in after-market trading.
Separately, News Corp said Susan Panuccio, chief financial officer, will step down from her role effective Jan. 1 and will be succeeded by Lavanya Chandrashekar, who was most recently finance chief at Diageo.
More on News Corp's quarterly earnings:
-- Book-publishing revenues grew 4% to $546 million. Top titles for HarperCollins included the memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" by J.D. Vance and the thriller "A Death in Cornwall" by Daniel Silva. Bible sales were also strong.
-- The Journal increased digital subscriptions by 23,000 from the previous quarter, to an average of 3.8 million. Including the print edition, total subscriptions to the Journal averaged 4.3 million subscriptions, roughly flat with the prior quarter.
-- While overall Dow Jones revenue rose 3% in the quarter, advertising revenue for the segment fell by 7%, dragged down by print advertising. Digital advertising accounted for two-thirds of total advertising revenue in the quarter.
-- Revenue in the company's digital real estate services increased 13% to $457 million.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 07, 2024 17:36 ET (22:36 GMT)
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