News Corp (ASX: NWS) has reported its first quarter result this morning for the first three months to September 2019.
News Corp is a global media and information services business. It has news and information services (news.com.au, The Australian, Herald Sun, and other Australian news sources, The Sun, The Times and other UK papers and The Wall Street Journal), subscription video services (Foxtel), book publishing (HarperCollins) and digital real estate services (Move Inc).
News Corp’s FY20 First Quarter
The media giant said that revenue fell 7% to $2.34 billion, which the company attributed to currency headwinds and last year included a one-time benefit from the exit of Sun Bets.
Subscribers to Dow Jones’ consumer products grew 9% to around 3.3 million reflecting 17% growth of digital-only subscribers at The Wall Street Journal to almost 1.9 million.
Meanwhile, revenue at Move (which owns realtor.com) grew 4% thanks to an 11% growth in real estate revenues compared to the prior year with an 18% increase of a larger audience.
Total segment EBITDA (click here to learn what EBITDA means) fell by 38% to $221 million.
The company experienced a net loss of $211 million for the quarter, compared to a profit of $128 million last year. Today’s loss includes an impairment charge of $273 million, this relates mostly to News America Marketing.
News said during the quarter it has made a partnership with Facebook for The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, whilst also expanding its relationship with Apple to include News Corp publications in the UK and Australia for the launch of Apple News Plus.
News CEO Robert Thomson said: “We are pleased to note tangible progress in our efforts to secure payment for our high-quality content from digital platforms, a global cause which News Corp has led for more than a decade.
“With the dominant platforms under intense regulatory scrutiny, there has been a fundamental shift in the content landscape, highlighted by Facebook’s decision to pay a significant premium for our premium journalism. This development establishes a precedent that changes the terms of trade and we expect a positive financial impact at our News and Information News segment”.
The company also revealed that it’s in discussions about selling News America Marketing and are also reviewing the potential sale of Unruly. The aim of these sales would be to reduce the discount to the sum of its parts, according to management.
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