News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said Tuesday that the new advertising revenue from The Wall Street Journal's new local New York section launched last week was covering its costs, requiring no new investment.

“Murdoch on Tuesday denied unleashing a war chest of resources to launch the New York section of The Wall Street Journal, a section that will compete with The New York Times for readers and advertisers,” Associated Press reported. “Just over a week after the first metro section came out, advertising revenue was covering its costs, Murdoch said in response to a reporter's question on a conference call.”

AP also noted: “His statement came after News Corp. announced that its newspaper division saw operating income soar to $131 million in the three months to March 31, more than quadruple the $29 million posted in the same period a year ago.”

But much of that revenue has come from deep-discounting ads for the new section.