News Corp., the global company that owns and operates realtor.com through its subsidiary, Move Inc., reported $8.14 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2017, down 2 percent from $8.29 billion the year prior.
Overall the company operated at a $643 million loss for fiscal year 2017, compared to an in-the-black $235 million reported in fiscal year 2016.
As revenue lowers in the company’s news and information services sector, its digital real estate services –which include realtor.com operator Move and REA Group — continue to bolster its earnings; digital real estate was responsible for nearly 40 percent of News Corp’s profits for fiscal year 2017.
Revenue from digital real estate services grew from $822 million in fiscal year 2016 to $938 million in 2017, a 14 percent increase.
“We expect to expand earnings in coming years as the sector is still at a relatively early stage of its e-evolution,” said Chief Executive Robert Thomson in a statement accompanying the earnings results covering 2017’s full year and fiscal fourth quarter results.
Digital real estate services represented 37 percent of Total Segment EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, deductions and amortizations), driven by strong audience gains and new product offerings.
The company saw a 9 percent boost in traffic to realtor.com’s web and mobile sites in the fiscal fourth quarter to approximately 58 million average monthly unique users.
“Move, the operator of realtor.com, and REA Group continue to post record revenues driven by higher traffic and improved yields,” Thomson said.
