News Corp – Owner of the Post and the Wall Street Journal – reported quarterly revenues more than expected due to growth in digital real estate, growth in Dow Jones and Book Publishing Divisions.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson touted the company's “three growth pillars,” with a 58% increase in second quarter profit.
The company reported net profit of $366 million, or 38 cents per share, compared to revenue of $156 million, or 27 cents the previous year. Adjusted earnings per share totaled 33 cents.
$306 million in the second quarter was more than double the net profit of $144 million reported in the previous quarter.
Quarterly revenue rose to $2.24 billion from $2.14 billion a year ago. Analysts were hoping for an EPS of 31 cents on revenue of $2.18 billion.
The strong financial results were driven by a 17% surge in revenue in its real estate sector, $343 million, and a record revenue of $600 million in Dow Jones Unit.
The company also cited revenue growth of 8% and revenue growth of 19% in book publishing groups, including HarperCollins.
Amid a call for revenue with investors, Thomson turned to the hot button topic of artificial intelligence, criticising the generator AI and praised the company's groundbreaking deal with Openai, which inked last spring.
“We provide valuable content to the generator AI and are still vigilant about the pursuit of degenerate AI,” he said Wednesday. “We are pleased with our partnership with Openai and hope that other companies in this segment will take an equally enlightened approach. Our legal action against bewildering confusion is ongoing. , I look forward to discovering the document.”
He added as follows: “The sudden rise of Deepseek itself is a useful lesson for all AI players. Aside from data centers, chips and energy costs, Deepseek lacks the immediacy of reliable news, and ultimately, content is no longer the same. I think I'll become king in the world of AI.”
