News Corp reports lower earnings in first quarter

News Corp., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch.com and Barron’s reported a slight increase in revenue in the first quarter but a decline in net income.

The company reported $2.5 billion in revenue and net income of $58 million compared to $2.48 billion in revenue and $66 million in net income in the first quarter of last year.

The Dow Jones operation, which includes the business news businesses, reported revenue of $537 million, up 4 percent from revenue of $515 million. And its profit was $124 million, up 10 percent from the $113 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Circulation revenues increased 1 percent, primarily due to the continued growth in digital-only subscriptions, which was helped as a result of bundling, partially offset by lower print volume. Digital circulation revenues accounted for 70 percent of circulation revenues for the quarter, compared to 68 percent in the prior year.

During the first quarter, total average subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products reached 5.3 million, an 8 percent increase compared to the prior year. Digital-only subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products grew 12 percent.

Total subscriptions to The Journal grew 6 percent compared to the prior year, to 4.0 million average subscriptions in the quarter. Digital-only subscriptions to The Journal grew 10 percent to over 3.4 million average subscriptions in the quarter, and represented 87 percent of total  Journal subscriptions.