Earnings: NWS More Than Doubled Profit; Beats Estimates

News Corp’s numbers continue to improve with profits more than doubling in the quarter ending March 31 (FY3Q) to $820 million from $400 million year over year. The gain from an asset sale by DirecTV helped; News Corp. owns 37.9 percent of the satellite provider. But the company’s own overall performance was stronger, producing revenues of $6.2 billion, up from $6.04 billion the previous year. One sore spot: newspaper revenue dipped to $153 million; the $33 million decrease was attributed to “lower contributions” from the U.K. newspaper group. Book publishing also was down. News Corp. beat Thompson First Call estimates (via MKTW) with earnings per share of 26 cents compared to the analysts’ estimate of 20 cents.
— News Corp. promised to double its stock buyback program to $6 billion
— Cable programming revenue was up 23 percent thanks to higher ad revenue from Fox News Channel and higher regional sports affiliate fees.
— Online revenue is not broken out.
Earnings release| Webcast (replay)

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