News Corporation (NWSA): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

News Corporation (NWSA) is a media giant, but is its growth story still anchored in print, or has the digital shift finally paid off for its investors? The answer is a clear pivot: Fiscal Year 2025 results show total revenues hit $8.45 billion, with net income from continuing operations surging a remarkable 71% to $648 million, driven by its digital-first pillars. With a market capitalization around $13.89 billion as of November 2025, and a strategic move away from assets like Foxtel, you defintely need to understand how the Digital Real Estate Services and Dow Jones segments are now generating the lion's share of this value. So, how does this complex, diversified conglomerate actually operate and make its money in today's content market?

News Corporation (NWSA) History

If you want to understand News Corporation (NWSA) today, you have to look past the 1923 start date of its Australian predecessor and focus on the 2013 demerger. That split was the true founding of the current company, carving out a focused, diversified publishing and digital real estate entity from the legacy entertainment empire. It was a clear strategic move to unlock value by separating high-growth digital assets from the more challenged print media business.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The current News Corporation (NWSA) was formally established on June 28, 2013, as a spin-off from the original News Corporation, which was renamed 21st Century Fox.

Original location

The company's roots trace back to News Limited, which began in Adelaide, South Australia. The current News Corporation is headquartered in New York City, USA.

Founding team members

The original media empire's foundation was laid by Keith Murdoch and then dramatically expanded globally by his son, Rupert Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch was the founder of the original News Corporation in 1980 and the architect of the 2013 spin-off. Robert Thomson has served as Chief Executive Officer since the 2013 split.

Initial capital/funding

The current News Corporation was created through a stock split, not a traditional capital raise. Shareholders of the original company received one share of the new News Corp for every four shares they owned. Rupert Murdoch's global expansion, which led to the original conglomerate, was initially funded by cash flow from his inherited Australian newspaper operations and various financing arrangements.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's history is defintely a story of strategic, often aggressive, restructuring to adapt to media shifts. The biggest transformation was the 2013 split, but the recent focus on digital growth is what's driving the numbers now.

The 2013 Demerger was a forced hand, in a way, allowing the new News Corporation to concentrate on publishing, digital subscriptions, and digital real estate, free from the volatility and scandals of the larger entertainment arm. It created a clearer investment profile for shareholders. This move is why the company's Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of News Corporation (NWSA) today center on authoritative content and digital services.

For the full Fiscal Year 2025, this focus paid off: Total Revenues were $8.45 billion, a 2% increase year-over-year, and net income from continuing operations surged 71% to $648 million. Here's the quick math on where the growth is coming from:

• Digital Real Estate Services and Dow Jones are the core growth engines, driving the 14% increase in Total Segment EBITDA to a record $1.42 billion.
• The shift to digital subscriptions is working: News Corp Australia closed Fiscal 2025 with 1,166,000 digital subscribers, plus The Times and Sunday Times added up to 640,000 digital subscribers.
• The 2025 Foxtel divestiture is the latest step in this evolution, enhancing the balance sheet by moving away from a non-core, capital-intensive asset while retaining a minority equity stake in DAZN for contingent upside.

What this estimate hides is the ongoing challenge in traditional News Media, but the growth in the Dow Jones professional information business and the Digital Real Estate segment is more than compensating for it. That's the realist's view of a media company in 2025: you must own the digital pipes and premium data.

News Corporation (NWSA) Ownership Structure

News Corporation operates with a dual-class capital structure, a key mechanism that allows the Murdoch Family Trust to maintain significant control over strategic decisions despite holding a minority of the total equity. This structure ensures stability but concentrates voting power in the Class B shares.

News Corporation's Current Status

News Corporation (NWSA) is a publicly traded, global diversified media and information services company. It is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under two tickers: NWSA for the non-voting Class A Common Stock and NWS for the voting Class B Common Stock. The dual-class setup is defintely a point of contention for some investors, but the Board argues it promotes stability and long-term strategy execution, especially since the company's 2013 spin-off.

In the fiscal year 2025, the company reported total revenues of $8.45 billion, a 2% increase year-over-year, demonstrating growth driven primarily by its Digital Real Estate Services and Dow Jones segments. The strategic divestiture of the Foxtel stake to DAZN in the second half of fiscal 2025 has also helped streamline the balance sheet and focus on higher-margin digital assets. Exploring News Corporation (NWSA) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

News Corporation's Ownership Breakdown

The company's ownership is heavily weighted toward institutional investors, but the Murdoch family's control is secured through the Class B voting shares. Here's the quick math on who owns the stock as of late 2025.

What this estimate hides is the power dynamic: the Murdoch Family Trust, which includes holdings like Lgc Holdco LLC with a 6.83% stake, controls the majority of the high-vote Class B shares, giving them disproportionate influence over board elections and major corporate actions.

News Corporation's Leadership

The executive leadership team is steering the company's shift toward a more focused, digital- and subscription-first business model, a strategy that led to a fiscal 2025 Total Segment EBITDA of $1.42 billion.

The core leadership team as of November 2025 is structured to execute this global, diversified media strategy:

• Lachlan Murdoch, Chair: Appointed in December 2023, he oversees the Board and the company's strategic direction.
• Robert Thomson, Chief Executive: Appointed in January 2013, his contract was extended to June 2030 in June 2025, signaling long-term strategic continuity. His total yearly compensation is substantial at $20.62 million.
• Lavanya Chandrashekar, Chief Financial Officer: She joined as CFO in January 2025, bringing significant global finance experience to manage the company's capital structure and growth initiatives.
• David Pitofsky, General Counsel: Oversees global legal operations, governance, and compliance.
• Anoushka Healy, Chief Strategy Officer: Focuses on the company's long-term growth and strategic partnerships, a critical role given the recent landmark content licensing deals with major tech platforms.

This team is focused on leveraging high-margin segments like Digital Real Estate and Dow Jones for continued earnings growth.

News Corporation (NWSA) Mission and Values

News Corporation's mission centers on its role as a global information and content provider, striving to deliver premium, authoritative products that both inform and inspire its worldwide audience and create value for shareholders. This focus on content integrity and digital evolution is the defintely the core of their cultural DNA.

News Corporation's Core Purpose

The company's purpose extends beyond just media consolidation; it's about being a trusted source in an era of information overload, which is a real commercial advantage. They are committed to upholding journalistic standards while rapidly adapting to digital transformation, especially in their core growth pillars. For instance, the Book Publishing segment alone posted its second-best revenue year on record in fiscal year 2025, reaching $2.1 billion, showing that quality content still drives substantial profit.

• Uphold the value of trusted content and safeguard information integrity.
• Deliver value to customers and shareholders with premium products and services.
• Prioritize growth in high-margin areas like Digital Real Estate Services and Dow Jones.

Here's the quick math: News Corporation's full year Total Segment EBITDA for fiscal 2025 was $1.42 billion, a 14% increase over the prior year, proving their focus on core purpose and efficiency is paying off.

Official mission statement

The official mission for News Corporation is to be a company greater than the sum of its parts, dedicated to delivering value to both its customers and shareholders. It's a dual mandate-inform and inspire, but also grow the bottom line.

• Be driven by passion, guided by principles, and act with purpose.
• Create and distribute authoritative and engaging content across all platforms.
• Create technology that empowers people and enriches their lives.

You can see this commitment in their financial health; net income from continuing operations for fiscal 2025 soared to $648 million, a 71% increase from the prior year.

Vision statement

The company's vision is centered on sustained influence and market leadership in its key segments, especially those with recurring and digital revenue streams. They want to be the authoritative source, regardless of the medium. That's a powerful long-term goal.

• Achieve sustained profitability and influence by leveraging synergies across diverse businesses.
• Maintain market leadership in core segments like digital real estate and professional information services.
• Adapt to digital transformation while maintaining journalistic and publishing standards.

This strategic focus is why their digital revenues now account for a significant portion of their total revenue, a clear sign of their future direction. For a deeper analysis of this shift, you should check out Breaking Down News Corporation (NWSA) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

News Corporation slogan/tagline

While not a traditional advertising slogan, News Corporation uses a concise, three-word phrase to encapsulate its corporate character and values, which is a smart way to communicate culture internally and externally.

• Passionate. Principled. Purposeful.

This mantra guides everything from content creation at Dow Jones to strategic investments in REA Group, the operator of realtor.com. Their full year total revenues for fiscal 2025 were $8.45 billion, a 2% increase, showing that principled growth is still growth.

News Corporation (NWSA) How It Works

News Corporation operates as a diversified information and media services company, creating value by producing and distributing authoritative content and data across four core segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, and News Media. The company's strategy centers on converting its premium content and data into high-margin digital subscriptions and licensing revenue, a model that generated total fiscal 2025 revenues of $8.45 billion and net income from continuing operations of $648 million.

News Corporation's Product/Service Portfolio

News Corporation's Operational Framework

The operational framework is built on a dual-engine model: authoritative content creation and proprietary digital platform distribution, focusing on high-margin, recurring revenue streams.

• Content Digitization and Monetization: The core process is creating premium content-from financial news to property listings-and moving it behind paywalls or into enterprise data products. Dow Jones, for instance, saw digital revenues represent 82% of its total revenues in fiscal 2025, showing this model is defintely working.
• Strategic Simplification: News Corporation completed the sale of the Foxtel Group to DAZN in April 2025 for an enterprise value of A$3.4 billion, simplifying the structure to focus capital and management attention squarely on the three growth pillars: Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate, and Book Publishing.
• Data-Driven Real Estate: The Digital Real Estate segment uses proprietary data and technology to connect buyers and sellers, moving beyond simple listings to offer financial services and agent software, which drives a higher yield per listing.
• Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing: A new, high-growth operational layer involves licensing the vast, verified content library to major artificial intelligence (AI) firms, establishing a new revenue stream and protecting IP in the AI age.

News Corporation's Strategic Advantages

The company's market success comes from combining globally recognized brands with a disciplined financial approach and a clear digital-first mandate.

• Authoritative Brand Equity: The company owns globally trusted brands like The Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins Publishers, which command a price premium for subscriptions and products, and this credibility is a huge competitive moat against lower-quality digital content.
• Digital Real Estate Dominance: News Corporation holds market-leading positions in two of the world's largest and most attractive property markets: the U.S. (realtor.com®) and Australia (REA Group), giving it a structural advantage in a high-margin sector.
• Diversified Digital Revenue Mix: Unlike traditional media peers, the revenue base is highly diversified across digital subscriptions, professional information, and real estate transactions, making the company less reliant on volatile print advertising.
• Capital Allocation Discipline: Management is focused on shareholder returns, demonstrated by the Board authorizing an additional $1 billion stock repurchase program in Q3 2025.

You can read more about the company's long-term direction here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of News Corporation (NWSA).

News Corporation (NWSA) How It Makes Money

News Corporation (NWSA) makes money by creating and distributing authoritative, premium content and information services across four core segments: professional information, digital real estate listings, news media, and book publishing. The company's financial engine is increasingly driven by high-margin digital subscriptions and business-to-business (B2B) services, moving away from traditional print advertising reliance.

News Corporation's Revenue Breakdown

For the full fiscal year 2025, News Corporation reported total revenues of $8.45 billion, a solid 2% increase from the prior year, showing that the shift to digital and professional services is paying off.

Business Economics

The real story here is the pivot from volatile advertising revenue to predictable, high-retention subscription and licensing fees. The Dow Jones segment, which includes The Wall Street Journal and professional information products, achieved record revenues of $2.33 billion in fiscal 2025. This segment is the future, with digital revenues representing 82% of its total revenue, a clear sign of success in the subscription economy.

The Digital Real Estate Services segment, anchored by the REA Group in Australia, is another key growth engine. Its business model is high-margin, charging real estate agents for premium listings and data services, which led to record revenues of $1.25 billion for the year, an increase of 12% compared to the prior year. This segment is less sensitive to traditional media headwinds, offering a defintely strong counter-cyclical hedge.

The News Media segment, which includes the company's global newspaper mastheads, is still facing structural challenges, with revenues declining 4% to $2.17 billion in fiscal 2025, largely due to lower print advertising. However, the strategic focus is on monetizing digital readership and licensing content, like the recent partnership with OpenAI, which is crucial for protecting intellectual property in the AI age. Book Publishing, through HarperCollins, remains stable, growing 3% to $2.15 billion by leaning on strong backlist sales and growth in digital formats.

• Shift to B2B: Dow Jones's professional information business, including Risk & Compliance, grew by 15%, proving the value of proprietary data.
• Pricing Power: Digital Real Estate's success is based on its dominant market position, allowing it to increase prices for premium listing depth and features.
• Digital Momentum: News Media's digital revenues are now a significant portion of its total, representing 39% of segment revenues in the second quarter of 2025, a necessary evolution.

News Corporation's Financial Performance

News Corporation's fiscal 2025 results show a company that is successfully translating digital growth into bottom-line profitability, even with some segments facing pressure. Full year net income from continuing operations surged 71% to $648 million, a massive jump that shows improved operating leverage and cost management.

Total Segment EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), a key indicator of operational health, grew 14% to a record $1.42 billion. This increase is a direct result of the high-margin Digital Real Estate and Dow Jones segments outperforming the traditional News Media segment. Here's the quick math: a 2% revenue increase driving a 14% EBITDA increase signals strong margin expansion.

• Revenue: $8.45 billion (FY 2025)
• Net Income: $648 million (FY 2025)
• Total Segment EBITDA: $1.42 billion (FY 2025)
• Free Cash Flow (FCF): $571 million (FY 2025), a 5.7% increase.

The solid FCF generation of $571 million is what gives the company the flexibility to return capital to shareholders, evidenced by the new $1 billion stock repurchase program announced in July 2025. This financial strength, coupled with the strategic focus on the three core growth pillars-Dow Jones, Digital Real Estate, and Book Publishing-is what investors should focus on. For a deeper dive into the numbers, you can check out Breaking Down News Corporation (NWSA) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

News Corporation (NWSA) Market Position & Future Outlook

News Corporation is strategically positioned as a diversified information and digital real estate conglomerate, successfully pivoting its profit base toward high-margin digital assets like Dow Jones and REA Group, which now generate over 70% of its Total Segment EBITDA.

The company reported a strong fiscal year 2025 (FY25) with total revenues of $8.45 billion and a 71% surge in net income from continuing operations to $648 million, signaling a defintely sharper focus on its core growth pillars.

Competitive Landscape

In the broader media and information services market, News Corporation competes against giants in professional data and premium news. Here's how its scale compares to key rivals in the professional and news publishing space, using market capitalization as a proxy for overall scale as of November 2025.

Here's the quick math: News Corporation's market capitalization of approximately $15.3 billion in November 2025 is dwarfed by Thomson Reuters' scale, but it maintains a larger market footprint than The New York Times Company.

Opportunities & Challenges

You need to map the near-term landscape to make smart capital allocation decisions. The company's future performance hinges on expanding its digital-first strategy while mitigating legacy risks.

Industry Position

News Corporation is a powerhouse in niche, high-value digital markets, which is where the real money is made now. Following the sale of Foxtel, over 90% of the company's EBITDA now comes from these core growth businesses, which is a huge de-risking move.

• Dominates the Australian digital property market through REA Group, a key source of high-margin revenue.
• Holds a premium position in financial news and professional data via Dow Jones, with digital subscriptions exceeding six million.
• The company's strong free cash flow of $736 million provides financial flexibility for its new $1 billion stock repurchase program.
• S&P Global Ratings revised the company's outlook to Positive in November 2025, expecting leverage to remain low (1x to 1.5x in FY26).

The challenge is managing the News Media segment's secular headwinds while aggressively reinvesting in the digital pillars. Exploring News Corporation (NWSA) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?