By Alexandra Bruell
News Corp reported an increase in revenue for its fiscal third quarter, driven by continued growth across its Dow Jones, HarperCollins Publishers and digital real-estate-services divisions.
Chief Executive Robert Thomson said the company remains on track for another year of record profitability.
The results
The media company said revenue increased 9% to nearly $2.2 billion in the quarter, which ended March 31, beating analyst expectations. Segment earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 18% to $343 million.
Net income from continuing operations rose 13% to $121 million.
On a per-share basis, earnings from continuing operations attributable to shareholders increased to 16 cents from 14 cents.
Adjusted per-share earnings were 21 cents, while analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of 19 cents a share.
The context
Revenue at Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Barron's and other titles, increased 8% to $619 million, while segment earnings rose 11% to $147 million. Advertising revenue increased 6% in the quarter, driven by a 13% gain in digital advertising.
Digital-only subscriptions at The Wall Street Journal increased to 4.33 million for the quarter, compared with 4.29 million in the period that ended in December. Including the print edition, total Journal subscriptions averaged 4.71 million, up from 4.68 million in the prior quarter.
Revenue at HarperCollins increased 8% to $555 million, with top titles including Rachel Reid's hockey romance series "Game Changers," on which the hit TV show "Heated Rivalry" is based.
Revenue from the company's digital real-estate-services segment, which includes the company's stakes in Move and REA Group, increased 17% to $473 million, while segment earnings increased 25% to $155 million.
The outlook
Thomson said News Corp, which currently has licensing deals with OpenAI and Meta Platforms, is in discussions with other companies "who recognize the preciousness of provenance."
The company is taking another approach with some artificial-intelligence companies. Thomson said News Corp was tracking digital companies that scrape its content illegally. "We have these baleful bad-boy bots in our sights and intend to pursue them vigorously," he said.
Write to Alexandra Bruell at alexandra.bruell@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 07, 2026 16:58 ET (20:58 GMT)
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