News Corp nearly tripled earnings in the fiscal first quarter thanks to extraordinary revenues related to the sale of Nds Group, which raised $1,4 billion in cash. As its cable division strengthened, the Rupert Murdoch-branded media giant offset the poor performance of its publishing division, which reported a 48 percent drop in operating profit to $57 million.
The company posted earnings of $2,23 billion (94 cents a share) versus $738 million (28 cents a share) last year. The turnover instead rose by 2,2% to 8,14 billion dollars, confirming the 8,15 billion expected by analysts. Excluding special items, earnings came in at $1,01 billion (43 cents a share), beating the 37 cents expected by analysts.
Sky Italia, a subsidiary of News Corp, reported operating profit of $23 million in the fiscal first quarter, down from $119 million in the same period last year. The drop, as explained in the parent company's statement, is due to higher programming expenses, including nearly $70 million in television rights linked to the broadcast of the Olympics.
Revenue in local currency increased by 1%, thanks in particular to the increase in the turnover related to subscriptions. The number of subscribers in the quarter fell by about 40.000 to 4,86 million.
