News Corp. CEO: We face unpredictable ad environment

Robert Thomson

News Corp. chief executive officer Robert Thomson sent the following note to the staff:

Dear Colleagues,
With the second fiscal year of the “new” News Corp now half over, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you our latest financial results, which you can find here as well as a link where you can listen to a webcast of our call with analysts and media here.
As you will see, we have now enjoyed two successive quarters of improving revenues, with most of our core businesses performing well. As evidenced by the acquisition of Move and Harlequin, and the expansion of digital offerings at our mastheads in the US the UK and Australia, we are more divers, digital and global than ever, providing sold grounds for optimism about the future.
At the same time, we recognize the ongoing challenges posed by an extremely unpredictable advertising environment, currency headwinds and the potential for economic upheavals in the world at large, so we must maintain a clear focus on cost discipline, which can help us through tough periods.
I thank you for your individual and collective contributions to the building of the new News, a company with a truly proud provenance. We have much to look forward to in the months ahead.

News Corp. is the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch.com, and Barron’s.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.