News Corp. reported fiscal first-quarter earnings Wednesday that beat analysts' expectations for earnings but missed on revenue.
Here's how the company did compared with what Wall Street expected, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:
- Earnings: 17 cents per share vs. 4 cents per share expected
- Revenue: $2.52 billion vs. $2.54 billion expected
Shares rose as much as 2.8 percent in after-hours trading.
News Corp. owns several publishing brands including The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, New York Post and HarperCollins. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch serves as co-chairman of the company along with his son Lachlan.
Revenue growth at News Corp. has been driven by digital subscriptions amid declining advertising revenue, which fell 7 percent this quarter compared to the previous year. Digital subscribers accounted for 54 percent of overall subscription revenue at Dow Jones, which publishes Barron's and MarketWatch along with the Journal.
The Wall Street Journal gained 266,000 subscribers during the quarter compared to the previous year, and News. Corp said that nearly 65 percent of the paper's total subscribers are digital-only.
News Corp. also has a large online real estate business in its subsidiary Move, which owns Realtor.com. Real estate revenues increased 8 percent during the quarter compared to the prior year. Earlier this month, News Corp. completed an acquisition of Austin-based real estate startup Opcity for $210 million.