Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has reported a 28 per cent decline in profit to $684m for the year to the end of June.
The latest fiscal report, for the US-based company, shows a fall of 7 per cent in revenues for news and information services, down by $393m on the year before to $5.338bn.
Advertising revenues fell 11 per cent, compared with the year before. Circulation and subscription revenues fell by 2 per cent.
News Corp’s businesses in the US, Australia and UK include: Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal and News UK.
Excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, advertising revenues fell by 7 per cent, but circulation and subscription revenues increased by 1 per cent.
News Corp’s results include a one-time charge of $280 million for the settlement of litigation and related claims at News America Marketing, according to the report.
The company said: “The decline was driven by lower revenues and higher promotion and marketing costs in the UK, partially offset by lower costs due to ongoing cost initiatives, combined with savings from lower print volume.”
Overall, News Corp reported full year total revenue of $8.3bn, a 3 per cent down year on year. Its non-news businesses include book publishing, cable TV and property websites in the US and Australia.
Revenue from property sales websites climbed from $625m the year before to $822m last year.
Profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation for this side of the business rose to $344m, up by 71 per cent year on year.
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