News Corp quarterly profit rockets 167 per cent in record fourth quarter

News Corp has posted its strongest fourth-quarter profit on record, with net income from continuing operations jumping 167 per cent to $230 million.

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Revenue rose 11 per cent to $2.34 billion for the three months to 30 June 2026. Total segment EBITDA, the company’s preferred operating profit measure, climbed 31 per cent to $423 million.

• Fourth-quarter revenue: $2.34 billion, up 11 per cent
• Net income from continuing operations: $230 million, up 167 per cent
• Total segment EBITDA: $423 million, up 31 per cent
• Adjusted earnings per share: $0.35, up from $0.19

The result marked News Corp’s 12th consecutive quarter of year-on-year revenue growth. It also extended its run of total segment EBITDA growth to 13 quarters on a continuing operations basis.

Digital operations generated 61 per cent of the company’s fiscal 2026 revenue. News Corp said Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing remained its main growth engines.

Full-year revenue passes $9 billion

Full-year revenue increased 7 per cent to $9.03 billion. Total segment EBITDA rose 15 per cent to $1.63 billion, while the annual profit margin expanded from 16.7 per cent to 18 per cent.

Free cash flow increased 42 per cent to $811 million. News Corp also accelerated its share buyback, returning $643 million to shareholders compared with $150 million one year earlier.

Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp, said the company had delivered “record revenues, record margins and record profits” on a continuing operations basis.

Lavanya Chandrashekar, chief financial officer of News Corp, said management believed the company’s shares did not reflect the portfolio’s value.

“We believe our stock is materially undervalued and we will remain focused on levers to drive value,” Chandrashekar said.

Dow Jones builds digital revenue

Dow Jones delivered fourth-quarter revenue of $644 million, up 7 per cent. Segment EBITDA increased 20 per cent to $181 million, lifting its margin to 28.1 per cent.

Digital revenue represented 84 per cent of the division’s total revenue. Digital-only news subscriptions grew 9 per cent to almost 6.3 million, while total news subscriptions passed 6.7 million.

Digital advertising revenue rose 10 per cent, offsetting a 6 per cent decline in print advertising. Dow Jones also recorded its first full financial year of advertising growth in four years.

The business increased the full-price digital subscription rate for The Wall Street Journal from $39.99 to $44.99 for new customers. News Corp said higher prices and enterprise subscriptions had lifted average revenue per digital subscriber.

REA and Realtor.com lift property earnings

Digital Real Estate Services produced the quarter’s largest earnings increase. Revenue rose 19 per cent to $553 million, while segment EBITDA surged 46 per cent to $222 million.

REA Group revenue increased 21 per cent, supported by pricing, add-on products and residential listings. Australian residential buy listings grew 11 per cent, with Sydney and Melbourne each up 8 per cent.

Realtor.com revenue rose 13 per cent to $167 million. The platform has now delivered seven consecutive quarters of revenue growth, including double-digit growth across the past three quarters.

News Corp said demand for premium agent products and higher-priced listings supported the result. Realtor.com’s new homes, rentals and seller products generated 22 per cent of quarterly revenue.

HarperCollins closes year strongly

HarperCollins revenue increased 15 per cent to $566 million. Segment EBITDA rose 14 per cent to $57 million, its strongest fourth-quarter result since fiscal 2018.

Digital revenue grew 12 per cent, including a 16 per cent increase in audiobook sales. Spotify and Audible helped drive HarperCollins’ fastest quarterly audiobook growth of the year.

A stronger frontlist also reduced the backlist’s share of consumer revenue from 65 per cent to 60 per cent.

News Media trails the wider result

News Media revenue increased 5 per cent to $574 million, although favourable currency movements drove most of the reported growth. Adjusted revenue was broadly flat.

Segment EBITDA fell $4 million to $24 million, a 14 per cent decline. News Corp attributed the fall to investment in the California Post and costs linked to the FIFA World Cup.

In Australia, News Corp officially launched the News24 brand during the quarter, replacing the Sky News name. Thomson said the company had already recorded an increase in audience reach following the change.

News Corp sharpens its AI strategy

News Corp said new artificial intelligence licensing revenue contributed to its digital transformation. The company has content relationships with OpenAI and Meta and is holding advanced discussions with other technology businesses.

At the same time, News Corp is pursuing legal action against Perplexity and Brave over the alleged unauthorised use of its content. Thomson described the approach as “woo and sue”.

“Without our journalists, our authors, our data, our brands and our professional expertise, users would be drowning in a slimy sea of AI slop, a cauldron of content crap,” he said.

Housing conditions remain a risk

News Corp expects Dow Jones Energy revenue growth to improve during the first quarter of fiscal 2027. It also forecasts further margin expansion at Dow Jones.

However, Australian residential buy listings declined 2 per cent in July. Rising mortgage rates could also delay a broader recovery for Realtor.com in the United States.

News Media will face further costs from the expansion of the California Post. The division expects those costs to be partly offset by new content licensing revenue.

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