NEW YORK: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has suffered a 15% slide in first quarter earnings as advertisers continue to shy away from newspaper offerings.
Earnings (before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) from the media giant’s News and Information business fell 11% in the three months to 30 September, mainly on account of a weak print advertising market in Australia and currency fluctuations from a lower Australian dollar.
News Corp’s mastheads include the Australian, the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun in Australia, as well as the Sun and the Times in the UK and the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the US.
Advertising revenue in the segment was down 13% during the quarter, despite an increase in digital advertising sales.
“Foreign exchange fluctuations negatively impacted reported results, but this should not obscure the progress at many of our businesses,” chief executive Robert Thomson said.
“In fact, News Corp revenues, excluding the effect of currency, grew four per cent this quarter, underscoring the value of our shift to higher growth businesses and our prudent reinvestment strategy.”
The weakness in the news division was partly offset by strong performance by its digital property listings business.
That business, which includes the REA group, reported flat EBITDA earnings at US$57m but lifted revenue 71% to US$191m.
The media company said its pay TV subsidiary Foxtel, which it owns in partnership with Telstra, suffered a 37% slide in US-reported earnings to US$140m due to higher programming and marketing costs, and the lower Australian dollar.
News Corp’s overall earnings, before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to US$165m in the three months to 30 September, while revenues declined four per cent to US$2.01bn.
