News Corp reported a favourable outlook ahead as it posted revenue up 6% to $US2.4 billion in the December quarter with profitability improving 9%.
The result, driven by growth at Dow Jones and Digital Real Estate Services, was described as “excellent” by CEO Robert Thomson.
“We see favourable signs for the second half of our fiscal year,” he said.
“Revenues increased 6% to $2.4 billion for the quarter and profitability improved by a robust 9%.
“The second quarter results were driven by sustained growth at Dow Jones and Digital Real Estate Services, which both achieved double-digit profit growth and have started the calendar year strongly.
“Given the current trajectory of our core drivers, we believe prospects for the third quarter are auspicious.”
Dow Jones revenue increased $US48 million, or 8%, to $US648 million, driven by higher circulation, subscription and advertising revenues.
Total average subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products were up 10% to more than 6.5 million. Digital-only subscriptions to Dow Jones’ consumer products grew 12% to more than 6 million. Total subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal grew 11% to almost 4.7 million and digital-only subscriptions grew 13% to nearly 4.3 million.
Book publishing was 6% higher at $US633 million, and Digital Real Estate Services was up 8% to $US511 million.
News Media came in flat at $US570 million for the quarter, with higher circulation and subscription revenue offset by lower advertising revenue.
Digital revenues represented 43% of News Media revenue compared to 39% in the same three months last year.
Digital subscribers at News Corp Australia at the end of December: 1,168,000 (999,000 for news mastheads), compared to 1,126,000 (979,000 for news mastheads) a year ago.
The Times and Sunday Times digital subscribers, including the Times Literary Supplement, were 659,000, compared to 616,000.
The Sun’s digital offering reached 70 million global monthly unique users in both December 2025 and 2024 (Source: Meta Pixel).
New York Post’s digital network reached 85 million unique users in December 2025, compared to 90 million in the prior year.
Thomson said expectations of AI’s impact are continuing to evolve and the more perceptive players have come to realise that provenance is paramount.
“What is the point of acquiring cutting-edge semiconductors if they are being deployed to repurpose gormless, factless, feckless content sets?” he said.
“We do believe an increasing number of insightful companies understand this content contradiction and will indeed pay a premium for our premium content.
“This quarter we expanded our partnership with Bloomberg to include AI rights for our unique Dow Jones content and are progressing with other negotiations.
“We also continued to actively execute on our expanded buyback program, which has been running at over four times the prior rate, reflecting our confidence in News Corp's strong cash position and belief in the intrinsic value of the Company.”
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