News Corporation

Revenue was approximately $2.2 billion, up 9% year over year. Total segment EBITDA was $343 million, up 18%, and margins expanded to 15.7% from 14.4% (up 130 basis points). Earnings from continuing operations were $0.16 per share versus $0.14 a year ago; adjusted EPS was $0.21 versus $0.17. On an adjusted basis, revenue increased 4% and total segment EBITDA grew 13%. For guidance, management said it expects strong fourth-quarter results, continued strong revenue performance and improved margins at Dow Jones, better revenue at Realtor.com though housing could remain pressured by mortgage rates, favorable HarperCollins trends with a stronger frontlist, and incremental News Media costs from the California Post offset by content licensing revenues. It also said fiscal-year free cash flow should be strong despite moderately higher capital expenditures, and that fourth-quarter digital direct subscription net adds at Dow Jones should be notably higher.

Robert Thomson framed the quarter as another step in News Corp’s transformation, saying it marked the 12th straight quarter of profitability growth on a continuing-operations basis. He emphasized Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing as the core growth engines and repeatedly highlighted AI as a new monetization opportunity through licensing, partnerships and protection of intellectual property. His tone was confident and combative, especially around AI scraping and content rights, while also noting that the company remains on track for a record fiscal year of profitability.

Lavanya Chandrashekar said the quarter reflected disciplined strategic diversification and operational efficiency, with the three core pillars generating 17% segment EBITDA growth. She cited Q3 buybacks of $193 million, up from $172 million in Q2, and $459 million repurchased year to date, helped by roughly $380 million of Foxtel shareholder loan repayment and strong free cash flow. She also noted operating details such as Dow Jones revenue of $619 million, segment EBITDA of $147 million and margin of 23.7%; Digital Real Estate revenue of $473 million and EBITDA of $155 million; Book Publishing revenue of $555 million and EBITDA of $73 million; and News Media EBITDA of $15 million, down $18 million year over year. She said Q3 cash flows were affected by working capital timing, but the company still expects strong full-year free cash flow growth despite somewhat higher capex.

Analysts focused on Dow Jones Energy investment, Realtor.com’s upside if housing improves, additional AI licensing revenue, internal AI efficiency gains, and the decline in News Media EBITDA. Management said Dow Jones investment and returns are being balanced carefully, that the risk and compliance market is large and still offers organic and inorganic growth, and that energy demand is being helped by U.S. export trends. On AI, management declined to quantify Meta/OpenAI deals but said more agreements are being negotiated and that the impact should show up over the next few years; for internal AI, CFO Lavanya highlighted product improvement, new revenue streams, translation/audio use cases in publishing, and coding/productivity efficiencies. On News Media, management attributed lower EBITDA partly to California Post launch costs and said some cost benefits should come from licensing revenues later in the year.