Meta Platforms and News Corp announced a new agreement that will pay News Corp up to $50 million per year for at least three years. The contract gives Meta access to News Corp’s U.S. and U.K. news content, including current reporting and archival material, for use in training and powering its AI products such as chatbots and generative‑AI tools.
News Corp’s recent financial results underscore the significance of the deal. In the first quarter of fiscal 2026 the company reported $2.14 billion in revenue, a 2% year‑over‑year increase, and net income of $150 million, up 1% from the prior year. Total segment EBITDA rose to $340 million, a 5% gain, indicating healthy profitability and a strong balance sheet that supports new revenue streams.
CEO Robert Thomson framed the partnership as part of News Corp’s broader strategy to become an “input company” for AI. He said, “We’re essentially an input company.” The deal follows a $250 million, five‑year agreement with OpenAI in 2024 and a $6 million annual deal with Google the same year, illustrating a deliberate shift toward monetizing content for AI training. Thomson also warned, “Let me be absolutely clear to every large language model, however large, however small: If you have received stolen goods, we intend to pursue you relentlessly,” highlighting the company’s “woo or sue” approach to intellectual‑property protection.
Market reaction to the announcement was positive for News Corp, with its shares rising between 1.2% and 1.6% in after‑hours trading, while Meta’s stock slipped slightly. The uptick reflected investor confidence in News Corp’s new recurring revenue stream and its strategic pivot toward AI data licensing.
The agreement positions News Corp as a key data licensor in the AI ecosystem, diversifying its revenue base and reinforcing its role as a trusted source of high‑quality journalism for machine‑learning models. For Meta, the deal expands its content library, supporting the development of competitive generative‑AI tools. Together, the partnership signals a broader industry trend in which publishers monetize content through licensing rather than relying solely on traditional advertising or litigation.
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