(Reuters) — News Corp’s quarterly revenue fell for the third straight quarter as income from its core news and information services business, which includes Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, declined further.
The company, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said on Thursday revenue from its news and information business fell about 11 percent to $1.29 billion in the first quarter.
The business, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of its total revenue, has been struggling for the past few years as readers shift to digital media and newspapers’ advertising revenue slides.
News Corp has been diversifying its business to lower its dependence on print.
Revenue at the company’s digital real estate services business, which includes U.S. website realtor.com and a stake in Australian REA Group, jumped 70.5 percent to $191 million.
The net income available to the company’s stockholders rose to $175 million, or 30 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from $65 million, or 11 cents per share, a year earlier.
Total revenue fell 4.5 percent to $2.01 billion.
Excluding items, the company had a profit of 5 cents per share from continuing operations and revenue of $2.09 billion.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of 6 cents per share and revenue of $2.09 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
News Corp’s shares were unchanged at $15.35 in extended trading.
(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)
Photo: Passers-by walk near the News Corporation building in New York June 28, 2012. REUTERS/Keith Bedford
