Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. said Thursday it swung to profit in the most recent quarter even as revenues dipped for its newspaper operations. Profit in the three months through December amounted to $119 million, compared with a loss of $66 million a year earlier, for the conglomerate that publishes the Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, and titles in Australia.

Revenues rose 21 percent year-over-year as gains from new video subscription services, Australian pay TV and other operations offset weakness in the news and information unit. The New York-based group also saw gains from its digital real estate and book publishing operations.

Chief executive Robert Thomson said the results show "the power of premium content and authenticated audiences in a fact-challenged world that craves credibility." The company said one-third of revenues in news come from digital, compared with 29 percent a year earlier, following an industry trend. News Corp retained the publishing operations of Murdoch's media-entertainment empire after a 2013 split that created 21st Century Fox.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019