Earnings: News Corp Profit Drops Nearly 30 Percent; MySpace Pushes FIM Revs Up 17 Percent
This story was written by Staci D. Kramer.
News Corp (NYSE: NWS) reported higher revenues for the quarter ending Sept. 30 but took a hit on the bottom line as double-digit increases in cable network programming, newspapers and information services, and satellite were outweighed by investment losses and other declines. News Corp delivered $.20 per share in its FYQ1, compared with $.23 per share in the same quarter last year. Operating income dropped 9 percent; the net number includes the Premiere AG write-down and a gain from the sale of eight U.S. TV stations.
Fox Interactive Media makes a cameo appearance in the earnings release, showing up in the highlights with 17 percent revenue growth "on strength of advertising and search revenue growth at MySpace." But it's lumped into the "other" category, which showed an operating loss of $101 million compared with a loss of $43 million in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the category rose to $719 million from $653 million in FYQ107. We'll probably get some color in the earnings call about to get underway. More to come.
Earnings release | Webcast (4:30 p.m. ET)
By Staci D. Kramer