News Corp. Shows 65% Jump in Year-End Profit : Media: The parent earned $734.4 million, despite disappointing results from its 20th Century Fox film division.

Despite a lackluster performance by its 20th Century Fox film division, News Corp.--Rupert Murdoch’s $8-billion global media empire--reported a year-end net profit of $734.4 million on Wednesday, showing signs of stability after years racked by debt.

News Corp.’s profit increased 65% in the fiscal year that ended June 30, bolstered by the performance of its British and Australian tabloid newspapers, the U.S. publication TV Guide and the Los Angeles-based Fox television network. The Australia-based company reported revenue of $14.1 billion, down 7% from the previous year.

“We’re quite pleased. We expect to do well this year,” Murdoch said in an interview, noting with satisfaction that the increased profit came despite a reduced asset base.

As for the Los Angeles-based film division, Murdoch said the results were attributable to three high-budget movies whose performances were disappointing.

“There is no easy formula to making movies,” said Murdoch, who took hands-on control of the 20th Century lot with the departure of Barry Diller last spring. “We had successful movies, but we didn’t have a ‘Home Alone’ in there. And we had two or three very unsuccessful movies. One of them very unsuccessful.”

Murdoch’s latter reference would be to “For the Boys,” the Bette Midler vehicle that disappeared from North American theaters in February after taking in just $17.6 million. Fox’s other two high-budget disappointments were “Shining Through,” with box-office receipts of $21.4 million, and “Alien 3,” with receipts through Aug. 4 of $54.8 million.

Despite those results, Murdoch said he has no plans to retreat from filmmaking.

“We’ll be more careful--but we’ll not shy away” from making an occasional higher-budget movie, Murdoch said. He pointed out that the studio plans to release three such films in the coming months--”Home Alone 2,” “Last of the Mohicans” and “Hoffa.”

Lisbeth R. Barron, a securities analyst with S. G. Warburg & Co. in New York, said the year-end results affirm that Fox’s film performance “certainly puts them in the bottom one or two in terms of profits.”

But Barron said Murdoch’s television network of seven owned and operated stations has exceeded expectations.

“Fox Broadcasting is doing a terrific job in terms of ratings,” she said--reflected in the rising prices it has been able to charge advertisers.

In a statement prepared for Australian stock exchanges, News Corp. said that TV Guide had been relatively recession-proof, its readership increasing to 55 million homes from 52 million homes. “With 70% of revenues derived from circulation, the magazine is less susceptible to advertising downturns,” News Corp. said.

News Corp. also reported that British-based Sky Television has been profitable since March.