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NWSA posted adjusted EPS of 40 cents, beating estimates, while Q2 revenues climbed 6% Y/Y to $2.36 billion.
Dow Jones revenues rose 8% Y/Y, with digital making up 83% and EBITDA growing for a fourth straight quarter.
Digital Real Estate delivered revenue growth, with core growth pillars driving 95% of quarterly profitability.
News Corporation (NWSA - Free Report) reported second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings of 40 cents per share on an adjusted basis, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 21.21% and increased 21% year over year.
Revenues of $2.36 billion increased 6% year over year and exceeded the consensus mark by 2.26%. The year-over-year rise was driven by growth across the Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing segments.
NWSA's Quarterly Details
Adjusted revenues (which exclude the impacts of foreign currency, acquisitions and divestitures) increased 3% year over year. Total segment EBITDA rose 9% year over year to $521 million, marking the company's 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year total segment EBITDA growth.
The company's three core growth pillars — Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate, and Book Publishing — collectively accounted for 95% of profitability in the fiscal second quarter.
News Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Revenues in the Digital Real Estate Services segment increased 8% year over year to $511 million, driven by robust growth at both REA Group and Move. Adjusted revenues and adjusted segment EBITDA increased 6% and 11% year over year, respectively.
Revenues at Move increased 10% year over year to $143 million, driven primarily by higher sales of RealPRO Select as Move shifts its focus to more premium offerings with higher revenues per lead and revenue growth in seller, new homes and rentals. Based on Move's internal data, average monthly unique users of Realtor.com's web and mobile sites for the fiscal second quarter were 62 million, up 1% compared to the prior year. Lead volume increased 13% year over year, representing a significant improvement from the prior quarter's 1% decline.
REA Group revenues rose 7% year over year to $368 million, driven by higher Australian residential revenues due to price increases, growth in add-on products and geographical mix, and higher financial services revenues. Strong Australian revenues were partly offset by a decrease in REA India revenues driven by the sale of PropTiger and the closure of Housing Edge. Australian national residential buy listing volumes in the reported quarter were down 3% year over year, despite higher listings in Sydney of 7% and Melbourne of 4%. REA posted record audience numbers in November with unique users of over 13 million, representing an increase of 9% versus the prior year. Competition is bringing out the best in REA, which is savvily adopting AI applications that enhance the service for customers.
Dow Jones
The Dow Jones segment's revenues increased 8% year over year to $648 million, achieving record results on multiple fronts, including a 29.5% profit margin and a fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit EBITDA growth. Digital revenues in the Dow Jones segment for the fiscal second quarter accounted for 83% of total revenues. Adjusted revenues rose 6% year over year, with segment EBITDA increasing 10% to $191 million. Professional information business revenues grew 12% year over year, with Risk & Compliance revenues growing 20% to $96 million, driven by new customers, new products, and improved yield, including continued momentum from risk feeds and API solutions. Dow Jones Energy revenues grew 10% to $75 million, with customer retention remaining strong at approximately 90% and included a modest contribution from the acquisition of Eco-Movement.
Circulation and subscription revenues rose 3% year over year, with digital circulation revenues up 7%. Digital circulation revenues accounted for 76% of circulation revenues for the quarter.
Advertising revenues rose 10% to $133 million for the quarter, driven by record digital advertising of $87 million, up 12%. Digital advertising represented 65% of total ad revenues, with strong demand from financial services. Print advertising was up 7% year over year.
During the fiscal second quarter, total average subscriptions to Dow Jones' consumer products grew 12% to more than 6.0 million, led by the continued push into enterprise partnerships embedding content in corporate work streams. Digital-only subscriptions to Dow Jones' consumer products increased year over year.
Total subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal increased 11% year over year in the quarter to almost 4.7 million average subscriptions. Digital-only subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal grew 13% year over year to nearly 4.3 million average subscriptions, driven by growth in enterprise and individual consumer subscriptions.
The company established new AI partnerships expected to generate additional revenues, including an expanded deal with Bloomberg for AI rights and a partnership with Polymarket that will selectively bring data to users across The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, and Investors Business Daily. Fresh investment in The Wall Street Journal's influential opinion pages saw the launch of Free Expression, an expansion of the vertical that introduced fresh writers to the editorial board's audience.
Book Publishing
The Book Publishing segment generated revenues of $633 million, a quarterly record representing a 6% increase year over year, following prior softness and driven by recent acquisitions, higher Christian Publishing and strong frontlist titles, including Wicked: The Official Visual Companion by Gregory Maguire, How to Test Negative for Stupid by John Kennedy, Twice by Mitch Albom and The Pioneer Woman Cooks – The Essential Recipes by Ree Drummond. Segment EBITDA declined 2% to $99 million, which included a $16 million one-time write-off primarily related to inventory at HarperCollins' international operations. Margins were 15.6%, impacted by the one-time charge lowering margins by 260 basis points.
Digital sales increased 2% year over year, with e-book sales up 7%. Digital sales represented 20% of Consumer revenues for the quarter. Management expressed mounting optimism for the second half of the year following a sluggish first quarter.
News Media
Revenues in the News Media segment were flat year over year at $570 million, as higher circulation and subscription revenues were offset by lower advertising revenues. Adjusted revenues for the segment decreased 2% year over year compared with the year-ago quarter.
Circulation and subscription revenues rose 4%, benefiting from increased cover prices and subscription pricing in the United Kingdom and Australia, digital subscriber growth, as well as a positive impact from foreign currency fluctuations, partially offset by print volume declines.
Advertising revenues showed mixed results. The New York Post saw modest improvement with digital advertising growth, with nearly 90% of total advertising revenues being digital. Management cited a challenging print advertising market and investment related to the January 2026 launch of the California Post.
Digital revenues represented 38% of the News Media segment's revenues in the fiscal second quarter.
Segment EBITDA declined 5% year over year to $70 million, with modest investments related to California Post launch partly offset by continued cost savings initiatives and higher pricing. Overall margin for the news media business remained healthy.
As of Dec. 31, 2025, The Times and Sunday Times had 659,000 closing digital subscribers, including the Times Literary Supplement, compared with 616,000 in the year-ago quarter, representing 7% growth.
Closing digital subscribers at News Corp Australia as of Dec. 31, 2025, were approximately 1,168,000 (or nearly 1.2 million total subscribers, surpassing the prior year by 4%) compared with 1,127,000 in the prior year.
The New York Post's digital network reached 85 million unique users in December 2025 compared with 90 million in the prior year.
The Sun's digital offering reached 70 million global monthly unique users in December 2025, the same as in the prior year.
Other Financial Aspects
News Corporation reported net income from continuing operations of $242 million for the second quarter, down 21% from $306 million in the prior year, which benefited from an $87 million gain on REA Group's sale of PropertyGuru.
Free cash flow for the six months ended Dec. 31, 2025, was $136 million compared to $121 million in the prior year, with the improvement primarily due to higher cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations, partly offset by higher capital expenditures.
The company has materially accelerated its share buyback program, repurchasing $172 million in shares during the quarter, $132 million more than the year-ago period. Management believes the stock remains materially undervalued relative to net asset value. Share repurchases in fiscal 2026 are expected to benefit from approximately $380 million repayment of Foxtel shareholder loans. At the current stock price, the company expects the purchase rate to be higher in the second half, with total dollars repurchased meaningfully more than in the first half.
The company declared a semi-annual cash dividend of 10 cents per share for Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, payable on April 8, 2026 to stockholders of record as of March 11, 2026.
Image: Bigstock
News Corporation Q2 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y
Key Takeaways
News Corporation (NWSA - Free Report) reported second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings of 40 cents per share on an adjusted basis, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 21.21% and increased 21% year over year.
Revenues of $2.36 billion increased 6% year over year and exceeded the consensus mark by 2.26%. The year-over-year rise was driven by growth across the Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing segments.
NWSA's Quarterly Details
Adjusted revenues (which exclude the impacts of foreign currency, acquisitions and divestitures) increased 3% year over year. Total segment EBITDA rose 9% year over year to $521 million, marking the company's 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year total segment EBITDA growth.
The company's three core growth pillars — Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate, and Book Publishing — collectively accounted for 95% of profitability in the fiscal second quarter.
News Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
News Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | News Corporation Quote
NWSA's Segment Details
Digital Real Estate Services
Revenues in the Digital Real Estate Services segment increased 8% year over year to $511 million, driven by robust growth at both REA Group and Move. Adjusted revenues and adjusted segment EBITDA increased 6% and 11% year over year, respectively.
Revenues at Move increased 10% year over year to $143 million, driven primarily by higher sales of RealPRO Select as Move shifts its focus to more premium offerings with higher revenues per lead and revenue growth in seller, new homes and rentals. Based on Move's internal data, average monthly unique users of Realtor.com's web and mobile sites for the fiscal second quarter were 62 million, up 1% compared to the prior year. Lead volume increased 13% year over year, representing a significant improvement from the prior quarter's 1% decline.
REA Group revenues rose 7% year over year to $368 million, driven by higher Australian residential revenues due to price increases, growth in add-on products and geographical mix, and higher financial services revenues. Strong Australian revenues were partly offset by a decrease in REA India revenues driven by the sale of PropTiger and the closure of Housing Edge. Australian national residential buy listing volumes in the reported quarter were down 3% year over year, despite higher listings in Sydney of 7% and Melbourne of 4%. REA posted record audience numbers in November with unique users of over 13 million, representing an increase of 9% versus the prior year. Competition is bringing out the best in REA, which is savvily adopting AI applications that enhance the service for customers.
Dow Jones
The Dow Jones segment's revenues increased 8% year over year to $648 million, achieving record results on multiple fronts, including a 29.5% profit margin and a fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit EBITDA growth. Digital revenues in the Dow Jones segment for the fiscal second quarter accounted for 83% of total revenues. Adjusted revenues rose 6% year over year, with segment EBITDA increasing 10% to $191 million.
Professional information business revenues grew 12% year over year, with Risk & Compliance revenues growing 20% to $96 million, driven by new customers, new products, and improved yield, including continued momentum from risk feeds and API solutions. Dow Jones Energy revenues grew 10% to $75 million, with customer retention remaining strong at approximately 90% and included a modest contribution from the acquisition of Eco-Movement.
Circulation and subscription revenues rose 3% year over year, with digital circulation revenues up 7%. Digital circulation revenues accounted for 76% of circulation revenues for the quarter.
Advertising revenues rose 10% to $133 million for the quarter, driven by record digital advertising of $87 million, up 12%. Digital advertising represented 65% of total ad revenues, with strong demand from financial services. Print advertising was up 7% year over year.
During the fiscal second quarter, total average subscriptions to Dow Jones' consumer products grew 12% to more than 6.0 million, led by the continued push into enterprise partnerships embedding content in corporate work streams. Digital-only subscriptions to Dow Jones' consumer products increased year over year.
Total subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal increased 11% year over year in the quarter to almost 4.7 million average subscriptions. Digital-only subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal grew 13% year over year to nearly 4.3 million average subscriptions, driven by growth in enterprise and individual consumer subscriptions.
The company established new AI partnerships expected to generate additional revenues, including an expanded deal with Bloomberg for AI rights and a partnership with Polymarket that will selectively bring data to users across The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, and Investors Business Daily. Fresh investment in The Wall Street Journal's influential opinion pages saw the launch of Free Expression, an expansion of the vertical that introduced fresh writers to the editorial board's audience.
Book Publishing
The Book Publishing segment generated revenues of $633 million, a quarterly record representing a 6% increase year over year, following prior softness and driven by recent acquisitions, higher Christian Publishing and strong frontlist titles, including Wicked: The Official Visual Companion by Gregory Maguire, How to Test Negative for Stupid by John Kennedy, Twice by Mitch Albom and The Pioneer Woman Cooks – The Essential Recipes by Ree Drummond. Segment EBITDA declined 2% to $99 million, which included a $16 million one-time write-off primarily related to inventory at HarperCollins' international operations. Margins were 15.6%, impacted by the one-time charge lowering margins by 260 basis points.
Digital sales increased 2% year over year, with e-book sales up 7%. Digital sales represented 20% of Consumer revenues for the quarter. Management expressed mounting optimism for the second half of the year following a sluggish first quarter.
News Media
Revenues in the News Media segment were flat year over year at $570 million, as higher circulation and subscription revenues were offset by lower advertising revenues. Adjusted revenues for the segment decreased 2% year over year compared with the year-ago quarter.
Circulation and subscription revenues rose 4%, benefiting from increased cover prices and subscription pricing in the United Kingdom and Australia, digital subscriber growth, as well as a positive impact from foreign currency fluctuations, partially offset by print volume declines.
Advertising revenues showed mixed results. The New York Post saw modest improvement with digital advertising growth, with nearly 90% of total advertising revenues being digital. Management cited a challenging print advertising market and investment related to the January 2026 launch of the California Post.
Digital revenues represented 38% of the News Media segment's revenues in the fiscal second quarter.
Segment EBITDA declined 5% year over year to $70 million, with modest investments related to California Post launch partly offset by continued cost savings initiatives and higher pricing. Overall margin for the news media business remained healthy.
As of Dec. 31, 2025, The Times and Sunday Times had 659,000 closing digital subscribers, including the Times Literary Supplement, compared with 616,000 in the year-ago quarter, representing 7% growth.
Closing digital subscribers at News Corp Australia as of Dec. 31, 2025, were approximately 1,168,000 (or nearly 1.2 million total subscribers, surpassing the prior year by 4%) compared with 1,127,000 in the prior year.
The New York Post's digital network reached 85 million unique users in December 2025 compared with 90 million in the prior year.
The Sun's digital offering reached 70 million global monthly unique users in December 2025, the same as in the prior year.
Other Financial Aspects
News Corporation reported net income from continuing operations of $242 million for the second quarter, down 21% from $306 million in the prior year, which benefited from an $87 million gain on REA Group's sale of PropertyGuru.
Free cash flow for the six months ended Dec. 31, 2025, was $136 million compared to $121 million in the prior year, with the improvement primarily due to higher cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations, partly offset by higher capital expenditures.
The company has materially accelerated its share buyback program, repurchasing $172 million in shares during the quarter, $132 million more than the year-ago period. Management believes the stock remains materially undervalued relative to net asset value. Share repurchases in fiscal 2026 are expected to benefit from approximately $380 million repayment of Foxtel shareholder loans. At the current stock price, the company expects the purchase rate to be higher in the second half, with total dollars repurchased meaningfully more than in the first half.
The company declared a semi-annual cash dividend of 10 cents per share for Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, payable on April 8, 2026 to stockholders of record as of March 11, 2026.
NWSA’s Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider
Currently, NWSA carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Airbnb, Inc. (ABNB - Free Report) , Rush Street Interactive (RSI - Free Report) and Playtika (PLTK - Free Report) are some better-ranked stocks that investors can consider in the broader Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector. Airbnb, Rush Street Interactive and Playtika carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Airbnb shares have fallen 5.9% over the past year. ABNB is set to report its fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 12, 2026.
Rush Street Interactive shares have gained 16% over the past year. RSI is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 17, 2026.
Playtika shares have lost 52.3% over the past year. PLTK is set to report its fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 26.