- News Corp’s revenue was $2.19 billion and its adjusted earnings per share was 21 cents during its third fiscal quarter, compared to $2.11 billion and 20 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance.
- CEO Robert Thomson touted its recent content licensing deal with Meta as greater than “purely transactional,” though he warned of other firms illegally scraping the company’s content
- Rachel Reid’s “Game Changers” book series, which inspired the Crave-HBO Max show “Heated Rivalry,” helped boost revenue increases in book publishing, and Thomson announced another sequel in the franchise
News Corp. is negotiating other AI-related deals with companies that “recognize the preciousness of our provenance” after the success it’s seen with its content licensing deals with Meta and OpenAI, CEO Robert Thomson said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday.
Still, he warned, the company would take care to protect the value of its intellectual property, something he said AI firms were recognizing just as much as they did semiconductors or energy sources.
“IP powers AI,” he said. “IP is an input imperative— and as always, there is a mix of wooing and suing, we would prefer the former — but we will never shy away from protecting our property rights. The integrity of creativity must be safeguarded.”
Overall, the company saw its third fiscal quarter revenue reach $2.19 billion, a 9% increase driven by growth at Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, its online real estate services division and its book publishing sector. Its net income from continuing operations rose to $121 million from $107 million a year ago, while adjusted per-share earnings came in at 21 cents a share.
Those were strong enough to top the $2.11 billion and 20 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance.
“The third quarter was compelling evidence of the transformation of our business, and demonstrated the robustness of our core growth engines, which we expect will propel us towards a strong fiscal finish,” Thomson said in the company’s earnings statement.
Growth spread out
Dow Jones‘ revenues reached $619 million, an 8% growth from the same period last year. The Journal saw its total subscriptions grow 8% compared to last year, totaling at 4.7 million average subscriptions, while its digital-only subscriptions grew 11% to 4.3 million. Barron’s also saw increases in total subscriptions (up 3%, at 1.53 million) and digital only (up 5%, 1.44 million).
Overall, its growth was boosted by a 19% increase in its risk and compliance division, which saw its revenues hit $100 million.
Its digital real estate services division saw its revenues increase by $67 million (up 17% over last year) due to boosts at Realtor.com owner Move and REA Group. Its book publishing division also saw its revenues increase by $41 million (up 8% over last year) due to the success of Rachel Reid’s “Game Changers” series, which inspired the Crave and HBO Max show “Heated Rivalry.” Thomson said Reid is adding two new volumes to the book series — with the next title, “Unrivaled,” already set for June 2027 — and called the series “a cold classic.”
Costs related to launching the California Post during the quarter and less contribution from News UK impacted the performance of News Corp’s news media division, though the sector still saw an increase in revenues of $24 million (up 5% over last year).
AI forward
Thomson reiterated his continued skepticism of AI companies during the company‘s earnings call, warning of several “baleful bad-boy bots” created by digital firms that were scraping the company’s content.
Still, he said the content’s value was reflected in theand it is News Corp. expects to score some funds from the $1.5 billion settlement Anthropic struck with authors and publishers last year, Thomson said.
“Semiconductors are inputs, energy is an input, and editorial is an absolutely essential input,” Thomson said. “AI engines require information and they need constant updates to remain relevant, otherwise, they are merely retrospective. Few companies on the planet have the depth of archive and the immediacy of contemporary content that we can offer across borders and across segments.”
