News Corp, the media and entertainment giant controlled by Rupert Murdoch, last night reported a loss of $433m for the past quarter after taking a whopping $1 billion accounting charge.
The company took the charge to comply with new accounting rules for valuing its US broadcast licences.
The loss contrasted with a $625m profit in the same period a year ago for News Corp, which moved its corporate base from Australia to the US in 2004.
News Corp is the umbrella company for an empire that includes the Fox studios and television operations, satellite broadcaster BSkyB, newspapers including The Times and other publishing and media operations.
The company said the results excluding the once-off charge amounted to a profit of 18 cents a share. Revenues grew 10.4% from a year ago to
$5.68 billion.
The company's filmed entertainment division reported profits of $368m, up 26% on strong revenues from films such as 'Robots' and 'Hide and Seek'. Television profits fell $74m to $160m, reflecting lower contributions from Fox Television stations.
The company's newspaper division contributed profits of $125m, an increase of $7m, helped by the inclusion of Queensland Press Group, which was acquired in November 2004, as well as higher advertising revenues in Australia.
HarperCollins, News Corp's book publishing division, reported first quarter profits of $70m, up $10m, after getting 42 books on The New York Times bestseller list, including six books that reached the number one spot.
