Rupert Murdoch's local newspaper business saw its revenues decline by five per cent, in the half year to December, with the media mogul citing weakness in print advertising market as the prime reason.
The five per cent fall in Australia compared with a seven per cent drop in its US newspaper revenue, and a ten per cent drop in UK newspaper income. Overall revenues from its News and Information Services dropped by one per cent to $2.5bn.
In the final quarter of 2018 global EBITDA for the News and Information Services division slumped by 15 per cent to US$120m, although this was mainly due to UK issues, the Australian arm provided an increased figure.
Digital revenues from News and Information Services rose to 32 per cent of the total, up from 29 per cent in the prior corresponding period. Closing digital subscribers at News Corp Australia’s mastheads as of 31 December were 460,300,compared to 389,600 in the prior year.
News Corporation remains one of the county's big media operations, with around 8000 staff on its books. It owns some 142 newspapers including metro, regional and suburban titles, which together represent about a quarter of all Australian newspapers. It prints almost all its own titles, and is now printing some Nine (Fairfax) titles in NSW and Queensland, including the Sydney Morning Herald and the AFR.