- The company’s net income from continuing operations nearly tripled to $230 million vs. $86 million a year ago
- Revenue rose 11% to $2.34 billion
- The company posted 33 cents per share in earnings from continuing operations, up from 9 cents a share from the prior year. Adjusted EPS was 35 cents, ahead of the 21 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance.
News Corp beat Wall Street expectations for revenue and earnings in the fiscal fourth quarter, fueled by strong performances from its Digital Real Estate Services, Dow Jones and Book Publishing businesses.
Shares of News Corp rose about 1.3% in after-hours trading.
The media company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $2.34 billion, up 11% from $2.11 billion a year earlier, while net income from continuing operations surged 167% to $230 million. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 35 cents.
Wall Street, on average, forecast revenue of $2.25 billion and per-share earnings of 23 cents.
News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson called it an “exceptional fourth quarter performance,” crediting News Corp’s “core growth engines”—Digital Real Estate Services, Dow Jones and Book Publishing—and saying the company’s “record performance is a product of sustained focus on, and reinvestment in,” those businesses and its transformation into a digital-first company.
Dow Jones revenue increased 7% to $644 million in the quarter, while Segment EBITDA rose 20% to $181 million. The company said the gains were driven by higher circulation and subscription revenue, including higher content licensing revenue, a 5% increase in professional information business revenue led by an 11% increase in Risk & Compliance revenue, higher digital circulation revenue and 10% growth in digital advertising. Digital revenue represented 84% of Dow Jones’ total revenue during the quarter.
Total average subscriptions to Dow Jones news products increased 7% to more than 6.7 million, while digital-only subscriptions grew 9% to nearly 6.3 million. Total subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal increased 6% to 4.8 million, including nearly 4.5 million digital-only subscriptions, up 8% from a year earlier.
Digital Real Estate Services revenue rose 19% to $553 million, driven by higher revenue at REA Group and Move. REA Group revenue increased 21% on stronger Australian residential performance, while Move, the operator of Realtor.com, posted 13% revenue growth driven by demand for premium offerings, continued product innovation and audience share gains.
Book Publishing revenue increased 15% to $566 million, driven by higher physical and digital book sales, including strength in General Books, the U.K. and Children’s Publishing. Digital sales increased 12% from the prior year, while Segment EBITDA rose 14% to $57 million.
Looking ahead, Thomson said News Corp has “trusted content relationships with OpenAI and Meta” and is “in advanced discussions with several other companies.” He added that the company would continue pursuing legal action against firms it believes are improperly using its content, describing the approach as “woo and sue.”