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.
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