The record-setting success of Avatar and widespread gains in the company’s other businesses led News Corp to beat Wall Street expectations in the latest quarter.
The company, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, owns a variety of media assets, including the 20th Century Fox film studio, the Fox broadcast network, newspapers and cable channels.
Many of those businesses were helped by an uptick in the advertising market, including Fox News, which reported record profits, and the Wall Street Journal, which had a 25 percent increase in ad revenue from the same period a year ago.
In a conference call with analysts, an upbeat Murdoch described the company’s results as “really exceptional,” saying he felt good “not just about this quarter, but about the rest of the year.”
Over all, News Corp reported revenue of US$8.8 billion in its fiscal third quarter, ended March 31, up 19 percent from the same period a year earlier.
The company reported net income of US$839 million, or US$0.32 a share. Analysts had expected the company to earn US$0.22 a share and generate US$8.2 billion in revenue, Thomson Reuters says.
A year ago, the company reported net income of US$2.7 billion, US$2.4 billion of which included the sale of a stake in the NDS Group and a non-cash tax benefit.
The company reported increased profits in all of its major units. Fox News Channel increased its operating income 31 percent from a year ago, largely from improved advertising revenue and higher fees paid by cable providers for the channel.
Other cable channels had a 42 percent increase in profit. Operating profit for the whole cable unit increased to US$588 million from US$426 million.
It’s TV unit had US$40 million in operating profit, up from US$9 million a year earlier.
It’s newspapers benefited from increased ad revenue and cost cuts to report operating profits of US$131 million, up from US$29 million.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS