Shares of News Corporation popped 2% on Tuesday after the company’s board authorized a new $1 billion stock repurchase program.
The new stock buybacks follow an existing $1 billion program authorized back in September 2021, of which $303 million remains outstanding.
News Corp. intends to begin executing share repurchases of a combination of its class A and B common stock at an accelerated rate following the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter earnings release in early August. The stock repurchase program has no time limit and may be modified, suspended or discontinued at any time.
News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson said the company is launching the buyback program because the company believes its stock is “trading at a significant discount to its intrinsic value.”
“We believe our balance sheet is immaculate, our cash flow has been fundamentally transformed over the last decade, and we are confident in the company’s potential for robust growth,” Thomson added. “We sincerely believe that expanding our repurchase program will enhance value for all shareholders and the expected pacing reflects our belief in the financial health of our company.”
The company has focused on three core growth pillars —Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing— as well as recurring and digital revenues, new high-margin content licensing deals, scaled business to business product offerings and a streamlined asset base, including selling Foxtel Group to DAZN.
News Corp. delivered its four most profitable years from fiscal 2021 to 2024 and continued strong performance through the third quarter of fiscal 2025.
Shares of News Corp, which were trading at $30.32 per share in early morning trading on Tuesday, have climbed 10.4% year to date, 9.46% in the past year and 136.5% in the past five years.
