News Corp Posts Profits on Advertising Rebound

News Corp., whose 20th Century Fox movie studio is still riding the tail wind of “Avatar” in movie theaters, said Tuesday it earned $254 million in the most recent quarter, thanks to an advertising recovery.

“Avatar” was released late in the just-ended fiscal second quarter and its record-setting box office sales will likely boost profits in the current and future quarters.

The company, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch and also owns the Fox broadcast network and The Wall Street Journal, was also helped by better home video revenues from movies such as “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and strong performance from Fox News Channel and other cable channels.

Net income for the quarter came to 10 cents per share. The company lost $6.42 billion, or $2.45 per share, in the year-ago period, when earnings were hurt by a $6.7 billion charge to write down the value of its TV stations, newspapers and cable channels, due mainly to the recession’s impact on advertising.

Revenue rose 10 percent to $8.68 billion.

The current quarter’s earnings were hurt by a one-time $500 million charge to settle an antitrust lawsuit brought by Valassis Communications Inc.

Absent the charges and other one-time items, adjusted earnings reached 25 cents, beating the 20 cents per share expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts also expected just $8.23 billion in revenue.

Shares of News Corp., which is based in New York, rose 32 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $13 in after-hours trading following the announcement, after closing up 23 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $12.76 on Tuesday.

2/2/2010 5:37 PM RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES