After a ‘Titanic’ ‘98, News Corp.’s Fiscal 1st-Quarter Profit Drops 16%

NEW YORK —  News Corp., the Australian media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said its fiscal first-quarter profit fell 16% because of tough comparisons to last year’s video sales of “Titanic.”

Profit at the world’s fourth-largest media company fell to $165 million, or 16 cents per American depositary receipt, from $196 million, or 20 cents, a year earlier. Revenue fell 1.1% to $3.16 billion from $3.19 billion. News Corp. was expected to earn 14 cents per ADR, the average of two analysts surveyed by First Call Corp.

News Corp. couldn’t match last year’s video release of “Titanic” or the box-office success of such lucrative films as “There’s Something About Mary,” resulting in a 63% decline in operating profit for the film division. That was partly offset by higher ad revenue at its TV stations, smaller losses at the Fox News cable channel, strong ad sales at the Sun and other newspapers, and gains from book publishing.

“News Corp. had surprising strength in all of their publishing businesses,” Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said. “Film was down, but they came in better than expected, and TV is outperforming the industry by a longshot.”

Operating profit for the quarter ended Sept. 30 fell 3% to $395 million. The results include News Corp.’s Fox Entertainment Group Inc., about 20% of which was sold to the public last year. Fox holds News Corp.’s U.S. film, TV and sports assets, including the Dodgers.

Fox separately said its net income fell to $43 million, or 6 cents a share, from $57 million, or 10 cents, a year earlier. Revenue was unchanged at $1.8 billion.

Operating profit at News Corp.’s filmed entertainment division, which includes the 20th Century Fox studio, fell 63% to $46 million from $123 million.

News Corp.’s ADRs, each of which represent four ordinary shares, rose $1.06 to close at $28.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. The ADRs have risen 9.3% during the last 12 months. Shares of New York-based Fox rose 75 cents to close at $22.19, also on the NYSE.