News Corp. Q4 Revenue Drops 3%, Swings To Small Profit

News Corp. NWS fourth-quarter revenue fell three percent and earnings missed Wall Street expectations.

The company swung to a net profit of $12 million, or $0.02 per share, from a loss of $1.12 billion or $1.94 per share a year earlier, when results included impairment and restructuring charges of $1.51 billion.

The recent period included impairment and restructuring items of $21 million.

Excluding items, News Corp's adjusted earnings fell 91 percent to $0.01 per share, from $0.12 a year ago. Revenue declined to $2.18 billion from $2.26 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $2.17 billion.

News and information services revenue fell six percent to $1.56 billion, while cable and network programming fell seven percent to $136 million.

Brighter spots included book publishing revenue, up 10 percent to $361 million and digital real estate up 24 percent to $113 million.

News Corp. publishes the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and various Australian newspapers. Book publishing units include HarperCollins and Harlequin Enterprises.