Dow Jones reports fourth-quarter operating profit, online growth

Dow Jones & Co., the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Marketwatch and Dow Jones Newswires, reported a fourth quarter operating income of $24 million, according to the news release from its parent company, News Corp.

For the year, the operating income was $45 million. The earnings release did not provide comparable numbers for the same quarter a year ago, or for the previous fiscal year.

During the conference call late Tuesday afternoon, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch disclosed, “In the six months to the end of June, the audience of wsj.com, the Wall Street Journal’s online operations, rose 87.9% compared to the same period last year and we are just getting started. In fact, in July it was over 100% increase.”

Later in the call, Murdoch stated, “We see Dow Jones as being the whole, right at the forefront of the digital revolution.

“For instance, just the very basic thing, wsj.com, is expanding extremely fast. It leads into the subscription service, of which we have now well over 1.1 million subscribers at a healthy price, which it will — and one that can be increased and will be increased, and that of course also leads into very specialized wires for which we can charge very high premiums.

“It is an information service, not a newspaper, an information service which will be neutral to all platforms, whether it comes on a Kindle or a mobile telephone or a PC or whatever.”

News Corp. also disclosed in the earnings release that its Fox Business Network lost money during the past year, which was expected.

The full earnings release can be found here. A transcript of the conference call can be found here.