NEWS Corp (NWSA.O), owner of the Wall Street Journal and book publisher HarperCollins, reported its fifth drop in quarterly revenue in a row as print ad sales declined and a strong dollar hit income from outside the US.
The 7.3 per cent fall in revenue was worse than analysts had expected, but the company’s shares were flat after-hours.
News Corp reported a net loss available to shareholders of $US149 million ($F311m), or 26 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of $US23m ($F48m), or 4 cents per share, a year earlier.
The company was hurt by a one-time charge of $US280m ($F285m) at its News America Marketing business.
News Corp said in February it had agreed to pay that amount to resolve claims that it monopolised the market for in-store promotions at more than 50,000 retail stores across the US.
Excluding items, the company earned 4 cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 3 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Total revenue fell to $US1.89b ($F3.9b) from $US2.04b ($F4b), missing the average estimate of $US1.93b ($F4b).
News Corp, which gets more than half of its revenue from outside the US, said “currency fluctuations” reduced revenue by about $US72m ($F150m) in the quarter.
Revenue in the company’s news and information division fell 9 per cent to $US1.23b ($F2.6b).
Apart from the Journal, the division includes the New York Post and Dow Jones Newswires as well as the Times and the Sun in the UK and newspapers in Murdoch’s native Australia.
It also contains the News America Marketing business, a provider of advertising services through publications and in-store promotions.
Revenue in the company’s book publishing business, which includes HarperCollins Publishers, fell 11 per cent to $US358m ($F748m).
However, revenue in News Corp’s fast-growing online real estate services business, which includes website realtor.com, rose 14 per cent to $US194m ($F405m).
