Staci D. Kramer
paidContent.org
Friday, July 18, 2008
2:07 AM
Whatever you think about News Corp's ( NYSE: NWS) investments in newspapers?whether it's acquiring Dow Jones, keeping theNew York Postor investing in its UK holdings?Pali Capital's Rich Greenfield says the media conglom is in better shape than its pure-play counterparts. In a way, it's the same mix that keeps News Corp from, being as vulnerable to the U.S. advertising slump as other entertainment and media companies: diversity. Writes Greenfield: "Newspapers are simply not a reason to avoid owning NWS'A shares, particularly at today's valuation." Some highlights from his in-depth look at News Corp's Newspaper & Info Services division, which Pali expects to grow modestly in FY09:
-- By FY09, the first full fiscal NWS year for DJ, Newspaper/Info will be about one-fifth of News Corp revenue and 15 percent of total operating income. (This skewed by the exclusion of BSkyB.)
-- With the division, U.S. assets account for roughly 30 percent of revenues and DJ assets account for nearly 90 percent of that; 60 percent or so of DJ's $2 billion share comes from newspapers. About 10 percent of WSJ advertising comes from international. (Expect that to increase as WSJ expands overseas.)
-- UK, which makes up about 30 percent of revenue, "is the most troubled component" but sub revenues and the lack of exposure to classifieds helps. Australian papers are at the top of the heap: they make up about 40 percent of the division's revenue and "continue to experience solid growth." Greenfield expects that to continue for now with an eventual hit.
-- News Corp is increasing subscription prices to offset advertising. The NYP's newsstand price doubled in May; WSJ goes up 33 percent later this month for newsstand.
-- A combo with the New York Daily News would orphan Cablevision's ( NYSE: CVC)Newsday, Greenfield contends.
The full report is here.
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