In the first quarter ended September 30, revenues at News Corp., owner of HarperCollins, rose 6%, to $2.28 billion, and net income rose 43%, to $215 million. The company said gains were "driven by growth at the Digital Real Estate Services, Book Publishing and Dow Jones segments."
Book publishing revenue rose 9%, to $582 million, "driven by higher physical and digital book sales, reflecting strength in General Books and Children's Publishing." Digital sales were up 6%, attributable to an increase in audiobook sales. "Backlist sales represented approximately 66% of consumer revenues in the quarter compared to 65% in the prior year." The company said sales were particularly strong for Ann Patchett's Whistler, Daniel Silva's Ransom, and R.F. Kuang's Taipei Story.
CEO Robert Thomson noted that company revenue gains were made "despite volatile economic conditions," and said, in part, "Our performance reflects the transformation of News Corp into a thriving, higher-margin business, digitally driven with peerless, profitable content. We believe we are primed for further growth in the AI age, as data centers, chips and water may be necessary components, but high quality content is the very essence of AI.
"We remain vigilant in protecting that priceless intellectual property. We are pleased to have partners in OpenAI and Meta that recognize the importance of our content, and remain optimistic that other platforms will choose compensation over confiscation, principle over plunder. To that end, we will woo and we will sue."