Stock | Post earnings, investors pound NWS

Company shares recently traded for $16.56, down $1.11, or more than 6%, as Wall Street registered disappointment with News Corp.'s third-quarter results yesterday. NWS's decline is well below other market indexes: The S&P 500, a closely watched barometer of broad stock market activity, was down less than 1%, as was the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Earnings | Third-quarter earnings pop on 'Avatar'

Record box-office receipts from Avatar, coupled with growth in its cable, broadcast and newspaper operations fueled third-quarter earnings, surpassing forecasts and propelled shares in after-hours trading, the company just announced.

Amid a broad market selloff, MarketWatch says, NWS shares fell this afternoon by 3.8% to end trading at $17.68, but the stock climbed 3% in after-hours trading.

Stock | NWS rises 6%; Murdoch talks up O'Brien

News Corp. shares are up smartly today, trading recently for $15.89, up nearly 6%. The move follows NWS's second-quarter financial report yesterday, where the company beat analysts expectations.

Also yesterday, CEO Rupert Murdoch said the company is having internal discussions about the possibility of a late-night program for comedian Conan O'Brien, MarketWatch says, but that Fox Broadcasting has not been in negotiations with the former Tonight Show host (left).

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Urgent: News Corp. Q2 results beat estimates

From a just-filed Wall Street Journal story on News Corp.'s second-quarter results, disclosed moments ago:

News Corp. reported a second-quarter profit in contrast to a year-earlier loss, led by continued strength at its cable-TV programming and filmed-entertainment divisions. Year-earlier results had been dragged into the red by revenue declines and impairment charges.

Excluding items in both years, News Corp.'s per-share earnings rose to 25 cents from 15 cents. Revenue rose 10% to $8.68 billion. Analysts, on average, were forecasting earnings of 20 cents a share on revenue of $8.23 billion.

The results were reported after stock markets closed. In after-hours trading, NWS shares were recently up 2.3%, to $15.39. In regular trading, they closed up 2.2%, at $15.04.

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McClatchy to stay focused on ad-supported model

McClatchy Co. isn't following The Wall Street Journal's paywall lead anytime soon. CEO Gary Pruitt says MNI is willing to experiment with charging readers for online content. But the newspaper publisher, reporting fourth-quarter earnings this morning, remains focused on a business model based on advertising sales, he tells Dow Jones Newswires.

McClatchy is the first of the major publishers to report fourth-quarter results. Overall revenue fell 17% to $393 million. Advertising revenue was down 20.5%, compared with a 28.1% decline in the third. Citing continued progress in January, the company says it expects ad revenue to decline this quarter by a percentage in the low to mid-teens, according to The Associated Press.

Save the date | Q2 results out Feb. 2 (New York)

The company will report its fiscal second-quarter financial results on Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 4 p.m. ET (New York), after the close of American stock markets. It has scheduled a 4:30 p.m. conference call with Wall Street media stock analysts that same day.