News Corp Reports Strong Revenue Growth in Q2 FY25
News Corp experienced a 5% revenue growth in Q2 FY25, primarily due to strong performance from REA Group and Dow Jones, despite declines in the news media segment and advertising revenue.
News Corp has reported "fruitful" Q2 FY25 total revenues, up 5% from the same period last year, excluding Foxtel.
Primarily driven by REA Group's success in H1 FY25, higher book sales in its book publishing division, and better Dow Jones revenues, revenues on a continuing operations basis, excluding Foxtel -- which News Corp agreed to sell to UK-based sports streaming platform DAZN over the Christmas break -- grew to $2.24 billion.
Net income from continuing operations rose 58% to $206 million, while total segment EBITDA rose 20% to $478 million.
REA Group posted record revenues for the quarter, growing 20% to $873 million, with an increase in EBITDA excluding associations of 22% to $535 million, and a 26% increase in net profit to $314 million. Specifically, Australian revenue was up 19% YoY.
Dow Jones also achieved record revenues, posting $600 million for the quarter, growing 3% from the same period last year. Meanwhile, book publishing revenues grew 8% in Q2.
"News Corp had a fruitful quarter, qualitatively and quantitatively," said chief executive, Robert Thomson.
"The three pillars of growth -- digital real estate, Dow Jones, and book publishing -- continued to expand segment EBITDA robustly," he continued. "We also saw the positive impact of rigorous cost discipline and digital development in the news media segment, and our overall margin rose meaningfully compared to the prior year."
Thomson said these core areas of growth allowed News Corp to simplify the Foxtel sale to that value of $3.4 billion - which he said is "tangible recognition" of Foxtel's successful digital transformation.
Revenue for News Corp's news media segment - which now includes Sky News - fell 2% to $570 million, with digital revenues accounting for 39% of revenue, compared to 37% last year. Circulation and subscription revenues were flat.
News Corp's advertising also took a hit, decreasing $5 million, or 4%, to $385 million, due to a 10% decline in print advertising revenue. Digital advertising remained flat, accounting for 64% of total advertising revenues in Q2.
