Categories: OLD Media Moves

News Corp., parent of WSJ, reports lower revenue, profit

News Corp., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch.com and Barron’s, reported lower profit and revenue in the second fiscal quarter on Thursday.

Revenue in the division that includes the business news operations fell to $1.4 billion, down 8 percent from $1.5 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

Operating earnings in that division fell 26 percent to $158 million from $216 million.

The company said that negative currency fluctuations and declines in advertising were partially offset by growth in digital advertising revenues. At Dow Jones, digital revenues accounted for approximately one-third of advertising revenues in the quarter.

Circulation and subscription revenues declined 5 percent, due to negative foreign currency fluctuations.

Growth in paid digital subscribers in the U.S. and Australia, higher subscription pricing and selected cover price increases offset print volume declines and the impact from the change in the digital strategy at The Sun.

Dow Jones also saw modest growth in its professional information business.

The earnings release can be read here.

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.