- News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWS, NWSA) revenues grew steadily and beat expectations in its fiscal third quarter, thanks to more heavy growth in digital real estate and broad gains elsewhere.
- While not yet the biggest revenue stream, real estate proved the single biggest source of EBITDA.
- A net loss of $1.1B included noncash impairment charges and writedowns of $1.2B; it compared to a break-even quarter last year.
- We finished the fiscal third quarter with strong revenue growth, led by outstanding performances at our Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing segments," says CEO Robert Thomson. "Revenues this quarter improved by 6 percent and are up 4 percent for the first nine months of this fiscal year.
- Revenue breakout: News and Information Services, $1.29B (up 2%); Book Publishing, $398M (up 6%); Digital Real Estate Services, $279M (up 27%); Cable Network Programming, $129M (up 6%).
- EBITDA by segment: News and Information Services, $85M (down 31%); Book Publishing, $43M (up 16%); Digital Real Estate Services, $88M (up 17%); Cable Network Programming, $16M (down 53%).
- Free cash flow rose to $184M from a negative $19M; cash from operations rose to $465M vs. a year-ago $224M.
- Press release