News Corp Reports 2Q Revenue Jumped Five Percent

News Corp’s revenue and profit increased in its fiscal second quarter, reflecting gains at its Dow Jones, digital real estate services and book publishing segments. Quarterly revenue at the company, whose properties include The Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins Publishers, increased 4.8% to $2.24 billion. Analysts had expected revenue of $2.18 billion.

News Corporation Wednesday reported financial results for the three months ended December 31, 2024.

Highlights:

• Second quarter revenues were $2.24 billion, a 5% increase compared to $2.14 billion in the prior year, driven by growth at the Digital Real Estate Services, Book Publishing and Dow Jones segments
• Net income from continuing operations in the quarter was $306 million, a 58% increase compared to $194 million in the prior year
• Second quarter Total Segment EBITDA was $478 million, a 20% increase compared to $400 million in the prior year
• REA Group posted record revenues for the quarter of $343 million, a 17% increase compared to the prior year, driven by continued strong Australian residential performance
• Dow Jones achieved record revenues for the quarter of $600 million, underpinned by improved circulation revenues and higher professional information business revenues driven by growth of 11% at Risk & Compliance and 10% at Dow Jones Energy
• Book Publishing revenues grew 8% in the quarter
• Announced agreement to sell Foxtel to DAZN for A$3.4 billion enterprise value.

Robert Thompson

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Robert Thomson said:

“News Corp had a fruitful quarter, qualitatively and quantitatively. Revenues on a continuing operations basis, which excludes Foxtel, grew 5 percent to $2.24 billion, net income from continuing operations surged 58 percent to $306 million and Total Segment EBITDA rose 20 percent to $478 million.

The three pillars of growth—Digital Real Estate, Dow Jones and Book Publishing—continued to expand Segment EBITDA robustly. We also saw the positive impact of rigorous cost discipline and digital development in the News Media segment, and our overall margin rose meaningfully compared to the prior year.

"We are providing priceless content for Generative AI, and remain vigilant in our pursuit of degenerative AI. We are pleased with our partnership with OpenAI and hope that other companies in the segment take a similarly enlightened approach. Our legal action against the perplexing Perplexity is underway and we look forward with relish to document discovery. The sudden rise of DeepSeek is itself a salutary lesson for all AI players. Data centers, chips, and energy costs aside, we believe DeepSeek lacks the immediacy of trusted news and, ultimately, content will be king in the world of AI.”

SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

The Company reported fiscal 2025 second quarter total revenues of $2.24 billion, a 5% increase compared to $2.14 billion in the prior year period, primarily driven by higher Australian residential revenues at REA Group, higher book sales at the Book Publishing segment and higher circulation and subscription revenues at the Dow Jones segment, in addition to an $11 million, or 1%, positive impact from foreign currency fluctuations. The increase was partly offset by modestly lower revenues at the News Media segment. Adjusted Revenues (which excludes the foreign currency impact, acquisitions and divestitures as defined in Note 2) increased 4% compared to the prior year.

Net income from continuing operations for the quarter was $306 million, a 58% increase compared to $194 million in the prior year, primarily driven by higher Total Segment EBITDA and higher Other, net. These impacts were partially offset by higher income tax expense.

The Company reported second quarter Total Segment EBITDA of $478 million, a 20% increase compared to $400 million in the prior year due to strong contributions from all four operating segments. Adjusted Total Segment EBITDA (as defined in Note 2) increased 20%.

Net income from continuing operations per share attributable to News Corporation stockholders was $0.40 as compared to $0.28 in the prior year.