Hello, everyone, and welcome to News Corp's fiscal second quarter 2026 earnings call. We issued our earnings press release about 30 minutes ago, and it's now posted on our website at newscorp.com. Additionally, this call will include certain non-GAAP financial measurements, such as total segment EBITDA, adjusted segment EBITDA, and adjusted EPS. The definitions and GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations of such measures can be found in the earnings releases for the applicable periods posted on our website.

We are delighted to report excellent second quarter results, with both revenue and profitability growth accelerating from the prior quarter, and we see favorable signs for the second half of our fiscal year. Revenues increased 6% to $2.4 billion for the quarter, and total segment EBITDA of $521 million expanded 9%, despite a one-time inventory-related charge at HarperCollins. Our adjusted EPS for the quarter was $0.40, compared to $0.33 in the prior quarter, and our profitability margin rose from 21.4% to 22.1%. These results were driven by sustained growth at Dow Jones and Digital Real Estate Services, which both reported double-digit profit growth, and both have started the calendar year strongly.

The results are indicative of our ongoing transformation, both digitally and commercially, as we continue to increase recurring revenues and reduce our dependence on advertising, which has a certain cyclicality. We also note that Moody's, which only recently upgraded our rating, has put our outlook on positive, reflecting the sturdiness of our balance sheet and our strong operating performance. What is the point of acquiring cutting-edge semiconductors if they are being deployed to repurpose gormless, factless, feckless content sets? Turning to our segments, Dow Jones delivered robust results for the quarter, with revenue rising 8% and segment EBITDA increasing 10% compared to the prior year.

What went well
  • Total company revenue rose 6% to $2.4 billion and total segment EBITDA grew 9% to $521 million, with margin expanding 70 basis points to 22.1% and adjusted EPS of $0.40 versus $0.33 a year ago — the eleventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year total segment EBITDA growth.
  • Dow Jones posted its highest quarterly revenue growth in nearly three years, with revenue up 8% to $648 million and segment EBITDA up 10% to $191 million at a record ~30% margin; Professional Information rose 12% (Risk & Compliance up 20% to $96 million, Energy up 10% to $75 million) and digital advertising hit a record $87 million, up 12%.
  • Digital Real Estate Services revenue grew 8% to $511 million and EBITDA rose 11% to $206 million; Realtor.com revenue climbed 10% to $143 million with leads up 13%, and REA revenue grew 7% to $368 million on double-digit yield growth and improved Sydney (+7%) and Melbourne (+4%) listings.
  • Book Publishing revenue recovered sharply to grow 6% to $633 million after a sluggish first quarter, driven by a strong general-books frontlist (Wicked collection, Heated Rivalry), strong Christian/faith sales, and recent acquisitions.
  • The company accelerated capital returns, repurchasing $172 million of shares (up $132 million year over year, roughly four times the prior-year pace), and cited a Moody's outlook upgrade to positive plus an expected share of Anthropic's $1.5 billion pirated-books payout later in the calendar year.
What went wrong
  • Net income from continuing operations fell 21% to $242 million, reflecting the absence of the prior-year $87 million gain on REA Group's sale of PropertyGuru.
  • Book Publishing segment EBITDA declined 2% to $99 million with margins down 140 basis points to 15.6%, dragged by a $16 million one-time write-off (primarily inventory at HarperCollins International Operations) that hit margins by 260 basis points.
  • News Media revenue was flat at $570 million and segment EBITDA fell 5% to $70 million, pressured by a challenging print advertising market and investment tied to the California Post launch.
  • Digital Real Estate faced headwinds from lower national listing volumes in Australia (new buy listings down 3% overall) and declining REA India revenue following the sale of PropTiger and closure of the Housing Edge business, while Dow Jones consumer ARPU was pressured by the expansion of lower-yield enterprise partnerships.

More on News Corp

Reported 2026-02-05 · figures from the News Corp Q2 2026 earnings call.

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