Categories: OLD Media Moves

WSJ parent reports better-than-expected earnings

News Corp., the parent of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, reported first quarter earnings on Thursday that were higher than analyst expectations on higher revenue.

The New York based company reported net income of $68 million, or 12 cents per share, after reporting a loss of $15 million, or 3 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago.  Wall Street expected earnings of 2 cents per share.

Revenue was $2.06 billion for the quarter, up from revenue of $1.96 billion in the same quarter a year ago and above expectations of $1.98 billion.

In the division that includes The Journal and Barron’s, revenue grew 1.6 percent to $1.24 billion from $1.22 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Advertising revenue was flat, but circulation and subscription revenue rose 3 percent.

The Wall Street Journal average daily digital subscribers in the three months ended Sept. 30, were 1.32 million, compared to 967,000 in the prior year, up 36.3 percent.

Digital revenue for the news division was 27 percent of its total revenue, up from 24 percent a year ago.

The company’s shares rose 22 cents to $14.36 on Thursday.

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.

Recent Posts

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

15 hours ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

16 hours ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

16 hours ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

16 hours ago

Rest of World hires Lo as China reporter

Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…

17 hours ago

Bloomberg rises to No. 7 biz news website

Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…

17 hours ago