News Corp Reports Profits in Q3

The global media conglomerate reported a healthy third quarter profits. Most of the profits have been attributed to the growth in advertising revenue at Fox News and Fox Channel that pertain to its broadcasting and newspaper assets.
CEO and Chairman of the group, Rupert Murdoch, hailed Australian businesses and country's economy as its main factor for increase in company’s profit growth. Rupert Murdoch also reiterated that although the consumer downturn in US economy was reflecting in advertising sales, nevertheless, business in Australia was "booming and going up all time" while in Europe and UK, it was maintaining a steady pace.

News Corp reported that its after-tax profit for past 3 months till March 31 rose to 209% to USD 2.69 billion or AUD 2.86 billion. The over growth rose to 16.2% to USD 8.75 billion compared to 10.8% rise in overall expenses to USD 5.45 billion. "Our ability to generate returns from a multitude of sources puts us in a great position to maintain our financial momentum even in times of economic uncertainty," he said.

News Corp shares closed up 3.1 at $20.92. Profits were up at $130 million even after discounting the Liberty share gain. The results were boosted by its sale of 41% stake in DirecTV in return for cash and stock. The deal was completed in February earlier this year. "Based on our actual results to date and the assumptions inherent in our projections we are maintaining our mid-teens operating income growth guidance," said David DeVoe, News Corp chief financial officer.

News Corp is now confident of achieving its yearly growth target for the current year given to its healthy quarterly profits. "We remain very comfortable with our full-year forecast of mid-teens operating income growth,'' said Murdoch.

The company stated that it is actively looking for partners in its online business, MySpace. However, it denied holding any talks with Yahoo or AOL for the same. The Chief Operating Officer for News Corp insisted that he had "not had a conversation with Yahoo or AOL in a couple of weeks''. Mr. Murdoch also denied having any such talks either. Murdoch, however, insisted on more short term planning and short term booking for greater profit margins in the coming times.