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Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp reaches out to Trump in AI plea
Updated ,first published
News Corp boss Robert Thomson made an indirect plea to US President Donald Trump over AI theft and the threat of a “deeply derivative woke AI” while delivering the company’s full-year results on Wednesday.
The company delivered “sterling” financial results, Thomson said, with total revenue up 2 per cent to $US8.45 billion ($13.1 billion) across the year, led by REA Group and the Dow Jones Company.
While there was no reference to the defamation lawsuit brought by Trump against the company last month, Thomson singled out the president’s book, The Art of the Deal, to make a point about the threat of intellectual theft from AI firms. It was a second sign of News Corp’s attempts to appease Trump in 24 hours, after an agreement to pause the process to expedite Rupert Murdoch’s deposition in the Jeffrey Epstein-related libel case on Tuesday.
“Take the example of President Trump. He has written many successful books, in particular The Art of the Deal, which is still reporting notable sales,” Thomson said.
“Is it right that his books should be consumed by an AI engine which then profits from his thoughts by cannibalising his concepts, thus undermining future sales of his book? Suddenly, The Art of the Deal has become The Art of the Steal.
“Is it just that the president of the United States is being ripped off?” Thomson said.
AI firms must spend tens of billions of dollars compensating content-producing firms responsible for their success, Thomson said, and to ensure a variance of sources to avoid “a deeply derivative woke AI does not become the default pathway to digital decay”.
It was otherwise a strong result for News Corp in its first full-year report since the sale of Australian pay TV business Foxtel, which it sold to British streamer DAZN in April. Now a more simplified business, News Corp reported earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $US1.42 billion, up 14 per cent.
Locally, revenue for News Corp’s Australian newspaper business, which includes The Australian, the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph, fell four per cent to $US895 million ($1.4 billion). This included a decline in circulation and subscription revenue, as well as advertising, despite the Australian mastheads increasing digital subscribers by 2.5 per cent across the year.
Revenue for the Australian business has fallen in five of the past six years, though News Corp offsets these declines with its crown jewel, ASX-listed REA Group, which again lifted revenue by 15 per cent to $1.7 billion. REA Group operates listings portal realestate.com.au, with earnings rising 18 per cent to $929 million, and a 23 per cent bump to net profit after tax, totalling $564 million.
REA shares shot up 6 per cent when the market opened on Wednesday, a positive response to departing chief Owen Wilson’s final earnings report. A successor will finally be announced in the next month, chair Hamish McLennan assured investors.
A top contender to replace Wilson, Damian Eales, a trusted Australian News Corp executive based in New York, ruled himself out of the role this week, according to The Australian Financial Review.
The appointee’s first major challenge will be bracing for a renewed challenge from Domain Group, soon to be under the new ownership of US firm CoStar, which Thomson said the company was relishing.
“There is no question that REA’s business thrives on competition, and we look forward to meeting the changes and challenges ahead in the Australian market with our customary spirit of creativity and innovation,” he said.
News Corp owns the Dow Jones Company, which includes The Wall Street Journal, as well as book publisher Harper Collins, REA Group, and a suite of other news titles across the globe such as The Times, The Sun and The New York Post. News Corp announced a Los Angeles-based sister publication for The Post on Tuesday, The California Post, which will launch a print product in 2026.
Total revenue fell for the News Media segment by four per cent across the year, but total EBITDA rose 15 per cent to $US153 million ($236 million). News Media earnings suffered in the final quarter of the fiscal year, down 13 per cent.
For the total digital real estate segment, which also includes REA’s American equivalent Move, revenue rose 9 per cent across the year to $US1.8 billion, with EBITDA up 18 per cent to $US601 million.
The Wall Street Journal has led reporting on Trump’s dealings with disgraced former financier Jeffrey Epstein, with a story in July detailing an alleged letter sent by the now-president to his then-friend in 2003, leading to the multibillion-dollar lawsuit.
The Wall Street Journal drove subscriptions seven per cent higher across the year.
The past year has made it clear that discerning audiences “crave content that is profound and purposeful and pithy amidst a morass of mediocrity and mendacity”, Thomson said.
Declines in revenue were even more severe at News’ British business, which houses The Times and The Sun. It was down 10 per cent, or $US67 million.
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.