News Corp beats quarterly estimates on Dow Jones, digital real estate services segments growth

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(Reuters) -News Corp beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue and profit on Thursday, driven by growth in its Dow Jones business and online real estate services, sending its shares up about 3% in extended trading.

The company has shifted its focus towards digital and subscription-based operations to better compete in and adapt to the evolving landscape of news consumption across various digital platforms and formats.

“We have pursued digital growth, realigned our assets, focused relentlessly on cost discipline and asserted the essential value of our intellectual property in a changing, challenging content world,” said Chief Executive Officer Robert Thomson.

Dow Jones, which contributes the largest share of revenue and includes publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Market Watch, generated $575 million for the quarter ended March 31.

Revenue from digital real estate services grew 5% to $406 million in the quarter.

News Corp’s digital real estate segment comprises REA Group and Move, which is the parent of the leading real estate listing company, realtor.com.

Revenue from News Corp’s news media unit fell 8% in the quarter. It, however, reported a 2% rise in its book publishing unit — which consists of HarperCollins — benefiting from strong backlist and higher downloadable audiobook sales.

News Corp’s revenue for the quarter stood at $2.01 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $2 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

On an adjusted basis, the company reported per-share earnings of 17 cents for the third quarter, beating estimates of 14 cents.

(Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)