WSJ parent News Corp. reports better-than-expected earnings

News Corp., the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Marketwatch.com reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations despite a decline in revenue.

The New York-based company reported net income of $48 million, or 8 cents per share. Analysts were expecting that the company would earn 3 cents per share.

However, revenue during the quarter fell 5 percent to $2.08 billion.

In the news and information services division that includes its business journalism operations, revenue fell 9 percent to $1.49 billion. Circulation
and subscription revenues declined 5 percent, primarily to the continued decline in institutional revenues at Dow Jones.

Operating profits in the news and information division fell to $146 million in the quarter, down from $164 million in the same quarter a year ago.

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.