News Corp revenue misses on weak demand for print advertising

News Corp on Thursday reported fourth-quarter revenue

that missed estimates as the owner of the Wall Street Journal grapples

with a declining demand for advertising in the print industry.

The

company, which owns Dow Jones Newswires, has been reducing staff and

implementing other cost-cutting measures in its Dow Jones division,

which includes the Wall Street Journal, while building up its digital

real estate business.

Revenue from its digital real

estate services unit – which consists of REA Group Ltd, a real estate

advertising company in Australia – rose about 10% to 251 million US

dollars beating estimates of 243.2 million US dollars, according to

financial data and analytics firm FactSet.

(Rupert Murdoch leaves his home in London, Britain March 4, 2016. /Reuters Photo)

The

first quarter should benefit from higher prices for Dow Jones

subscriptions as well as increased cover prices in the UK and Australia,

the company said on a post-earnings call.

"We assume

continued print declines into fiscal 2018, but we'll aggressively seek

out cost reductions," Susan Panuccio, the company's chief financial

officer said on the call.

Advertising revenue, the company's biggest source of revenue, fell 8.2% to 737 million US dollars in the reported quarter.

Sales

of print-based advertising, which has been declining for the last ten

years, is expected to fall 13% in the United States in 2017, according

to media research firm Magna Intelligence.

The

company, controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, reported a net loss

available to shareholders of 430 million US dollars, or 74 cents per

share, in the fourth quarter ended June 30, compared with a profit of 89

million US dollar, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

(AFP Photo)

The

company said the loss in the quarter was due to a pre-tax non-cash

impairment charge of 464 million US dollars, mainly related to the

write-down of fixed assets at its UK newspapers.

News

Corp, which owns book publisher Harper Collins and newspapers including

the New York Post, said it earned 11 cents per share on an adjusted

basis, beating estimates of 9 cents per share, according to Thomson

Reuters's analysis.

The company's shares, which closed at 3.68 US dollars on Thursday, have risen about 20% this year.