While the media industry has taken several hits to start 2025, business appears to be going pretty well at News Corp., with the parent company of the Wall Street Journal and New York Post seeing its net profit more than triple between January and March compared to 2024, according to its latest earnings report on Thursday.
That jump comes as WSJ added more than 100,000 subscribers during the quarter — a welcome sight for News Corp., after the outlet reported it lost 30,000 customers during the holiday quarter of 2024.
News Corp. reported the big profit jump even as revenue only climbed 1% compared to a year ago. Ironically, News Corp.’s “news media” division was the worst-performing branch of the company, which the company attributed to lower advertising sales and a $10 million decline in circulation and subscription revenues.
CEO Robert Thomson, in a statement accompanying the company’s earnings report, said News Corp. has “focused relentlessly on cost discipline.” He said the company was able to post a strong quarter “despite blustery currency headwinds and obvious macro uncertainty.”
Later on Thursday on the company’s earnings call, Thomson applauded the Trump Administration’s “pursuit of sensible deregulation,” saying it will help produce “favorable results” for both the U.S. and his company. At the same time, he did not seem to be a fan of the president’s tariff plan.
“When Adam Smith spoke sagely of the power of the invisible hand, he did not envisage an economic slap in the face from the unruly introduction of exorbitant tariffs.”
He added that “America’s animal spirit” needs “emancipation from the cage of uncertainty.”
Here are the key results from News Corp.’s report:
Revenue: Quarterly sales of $2.01 billion were up 1% compared to last year, and matched analyst estimates from Zacks Investment Research.
News Corp., which includes publisher HarperCollins among its assets, reported book publishing sales increased 2% year-over-year to $514 million, while its digital real estate services business reported a 6% increase to $406 million.
Those gains were offset by an 8% year-over-year drop in sales for its news media division, which posted $514 million in revenue for the quarter. Other outlets among News Corp.’s portfolio include British newspapers The Times and The Sun.
Net Profits: News Corp. reported $103 million in net profits, an increase of 243% compared to the year prior.
Subscriptions: WSJ reported 4.34 million subscribers at the end of the quarter — up from 4.23 million at the close of fiscal 2024, and up 3% from the 4.22 million reported during the same quarter last year. Total subscriptions at News Corp. climbed 7% annually to 6.10 million.
Earnings Per Share: Adjusted EPS of $0.17 was up from $0.13 a year ago, but fell short of the $0.19 EPS that analysts had projected.
Heading into Thursday afternoon, the company’s stock price was up 4.20% since the start of the year. Its $17.10 billion market cap makes it the seventh most-valuable media company in the world. News Corp. announced its plan to buy back up to $1 billion in shares.
Thomson, on News Corp.’s earnings call, said the company is “pleased” with its partnership with OpenAI so far. He said company behind ChatGPT “fully appreciate their responsibilities to our company, to creativity, and to the community.” His comments stand out, considering OpenAI is facing a lawsuit from The New York Times, which claims the company has illegally lifted its content without permission.
News Corp.’s chief executive added it will be important for more outlets to strike deals with AI companies moving forward. The “currency of credibility will become even more crucial,” Thomson said, as AI continues to blur the lines between what is real and what is fake.
As for other segments of News Corp.’s business, Dow Jones revenue was up 6% year-over-year to $575 million, thanks in large part to a 14% increase in digital subscribers. Thomson said his team is confident Dow Jones will shift new customers who came aboard on cheaper subscription offers to “more standard pricing” in the quarters ahead.
