News Corp — owner of The Post and The Wall Street Journal — reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, driven by growth in its digital real estate, Dow Jones and book publishing divisions.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson touted the company’s “three pillars of growth,” which drove a 58% increase in profits for the second quarter.
The company reported $306 million in net income, or 38 cents a share, compared with income of $156 million, or 27 cents, the year prior. Adjusted earnings per share totaled 33 cents.
That $306 million in the second quarter was also more than double the $144 million net income the company reported last quarter.
Quarterly revenue jumped to $2.24 billion from $2.14 billion a year earlier. Analysts expected EPS of 31 cents on revenue of $2.18 billion.
The strong financial results were driven by a 17% jump in revenue, to $343 million, at its real estate division, as well as record revenues of $600 million at its Dow Jones unit.
The company also cited 8% revenue growth and 19% earnings growth at its book publishing group, which includes HarperCollins.
During the earnings call with investors, Thomson turned to the hot-button topic of artificial intelligence, criticizing Generative AI and applauding the company’s landmark deal with OpenAI that it inked last spring.
“We are providing priceless content for Generative AI, and remain vigilant in our pursuit of degenerative AI,” he said Wednesday. “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.”
He added: “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.”
Thomson said there was also a “tangible increase in business confidence” in the US since the election.
“The temporary turmoil of transactional tariffs aside, there is the confluence of economic optimism and a cultural awakening with the yoke of woke having been lifted,” he said.
“We believe these trends should lead to less superfluous, gratuitous regulation, greater capital formation, increased opportunities for all Americans and more candid, creative, compelling conversations. Hopefully, an era of censorship and self censorship is receding into the distance.”
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