News Corp, the global media, publishing and property group, is leaning into the rapid rise of AI at a time when the technology has erased billions in market value from software and information companies worldwide. The business operates major news brands in the US, UK and Australia, a large book publishing arm, a professional data and risk division and a controlling stake in a top real estate portal, and has spent the past few years stripping out costs and repositioning itself around high value content and data. That shift follows a long period when traditional media models were under pressure and investors questioned how legacy players would grow.
The company has cut more than $US160 million from its cost base and in 2024 locked in a $US250 million five year licensing arrangement with a leading AI developer, helping deliver 11 straight quarters of year on year earnings growth and record profits in the last financial year. Management now frames News Corp as an “input” provider for AI, similar to semiconductors, data centres or energy, because of its premium news, financial data and real estate information, rather than as an “output” business that could be directly replaced by generative tools. At the same time it is progressing additional AI licensing negotiations and preparing to capitalise on new ad inventory inside major AI chat platforms, using its long experience in advertising to monetise traffic in emerging digital environments.
The bigger play looks like a bet that owning proprietary news, market intelligence, books and property listings will keep News Corp indispensable to AI systems even as those same systems disrupt parts of the broader tech sector. The company is also signalling a tougher legal stance, indicating that AI firms scraping its content without agreements can expect to face lawsuits, especially after a recent multibillion dollar settlement between a major publisher and an AI provider boosted confidence in enforcing content rights. In real estate, where News Corp controls around 61% of a listed portal valued at roughly $21.6 billion and 80% of a similar US platform, the group argues that fears AI will quickly clone its property marketplaces seem overstated, and points instead to a “holistic” user experience that is harder to replicate. How this balance between partnership, protection and innovation plays out will shape whether the promised record profits become a sustainable AI era business model or a short term win in a rapidly shifting market.
