Categories: OLD Media Moves

WSJ parent reports better-than-expected earnings

News Corp., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch.com, reported second-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates due to strong results in all of its businesses.

The New York-based company reported net income of $119 million, or 16 cents per share, compared to a loss a year earlier. Adjusted, the earnings were 18 cents, beating analyst estimates of 15 cents per share.

Revenue of $2.63 billion rose 21 percent and matched expectations.

“News Corp has reported increased profitability and revenue growth during the first half of fiscal 2019, highlighting the power of premium content and authenticated audiences in a fact-challenged world that craves credibility,” said CEO Robert Thomson in a statement.

Its shares closed Thursday at $12.71, down 21 cents.

In the news and information services division, revenues fell 3 percent to $1.26 billion, but revenues in Dow Jones, which operates the Journal, Barron’s and Marketwatch, rose 4 percent.

Advertising revenues at Dow Jones were flat in the quarter, as record digital advertising revenues offset the weakness in print advertising.

Dow Jones saw a 7 percent increase in its circulation revenues, reflecting 23 percent digital paid subscriber growth at The Journal.

The Journal average daily digital subscribers in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2018, were 1,709,000, compared to 1,389,000 in the prior year

Read the earnings release 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.

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…

19 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…

19 hours ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

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

19 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…

19 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…

20 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…

20 hours ago