News Corp. posted record first-quarter sales, beating Wall Street expectations, led by growth in its digital real estate services, book publishing and Dow Jones divisions, the company announced Thursday.
The media giant, which owns the New York Post and Wall Street Journal, reported a 148% increase in net income for the quarter to $144 million, or 21 cents a share.
Meanwhile, News Corp said revenue rose 3% to $2.58 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30.
Wall Street analysts had expected earnings of 16 cents a share and revenue of $2.57 billion.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson commented on the better-than-expected results, saying, “First quarter sales, strong net profit, record first quarter profitability, “We're off to a strong start.”
“Our record first quarter performance in a less than favorable macro environment is compelling evidence of News Corp's successful transformation over the past decade.”
The company's Dow Jones division saw a surge in content licenses and digital subscriptions.
Mr Thomson cited News Corp's “trustworthy journalism” and its partnership with OpenAI in the run-up to the presidential election.
“Artificial intelligence is reusing fraudulent information, and it is important that journalistic input is honest. That is why our partnership with OpenAI is so important, and we will ensure that the journalism we trust is not exploited and exploited.” We intend to sue the AI companies that are doing so.”
The executive said Dow Jones and the New York Post have “launched a lawsuit against the embattled Perplexity Corp., which sells products based on our journalism, ingesting our archives and compromising our knowledge.” “We are diligently preparing for further action against other companies that integrate this information.” property. “
On October 24, the two companies filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence company backed by Jeff Bezos, for engaging in “massive illegal copying” of published works.
News Corp announced on Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Susan Panuccio will step down from her position on January 1, after almost eight years with the company. She will be succeeded by Lavanya Chandrashekhar, an experienced CFO who has worked at Procter & Gamble, Mondelez and Diageo.
