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Wiley Navigates Transition and Growth in Fiscal 2025
As the first quarter of fiscal 2025 concluded on July 31, Wiley focused on finalizing leftover initiatives from the previous fiscal year. This period marked a significant restructuring for the company, during which it sold three business units and streamlined its workforce. In addition, Wiley plans to enhance its generative AI content licensing program and improve its internal AI capabilities in the upcoming year.
In fiscal 2024, Wiley engaged in a substantial $23 million AI partnership with an undisclosed major technology firm and initiated a $21 million agreement with another tech company, which came to fruition in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Consequently, Wiley reported $17 million in revenue generated from this latter deal within its learning division during the quarter.
The introduction of AI-generated revenue played a pivotal role in driving a 14% increase in sales for Wiley, reaching a total of $124 million compared to the same quarter in fiscal 2024. However, when excluding the AI contributions, the overall revenue exhibited a slight decline of 1%. In this period, while sales of academic courseware saw growth, there was a moderate drop in professional publishing. Conversely, in Wiley’s larger research segment, revenues increased by 3%, amounting to $265 million, bolstered by advancements in open access and institutional publishing.
Wiley has successfully concluded its divestiture program, with two of the transactions finalized on August 31, a month post-quarter end. The restructuring initiative aimed to establish a more streamlined and lucrative operation. Despite the divestitures, Wiley reported a 6% increase in revenue, reaching $390 million, and a notable 22% rise in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), now totaling $73 million.
Matthew Kissner, appointed as Wiley’s president and CEO in July after a stint as interim leader since October, expressed satisfaction with the company’s start to the year. During a conference call with analysts, he emphasized Wiley’s readiness to capitalize on opportunities in the AI realm.
Kissner elaborated that both AI agreements primarily focus on licensing previously published materials that are at least three years old. He noted that the current interest from technology firms is primarily centered around book content rather than research, although this focus may evolve as tech companies advance their large language models.
Ensuring the protection of rights belonging to both Wiley and its authors, Kissner highlighted that copyright holders receive compensation according to established contractual agreements. He also noted the sustained interest in Wiley’s content and indicated that a dedicated team has been organized to explore AI opportunities aligning with the company’s licensing standards.
Looking to the future, Wiley has increased its capital expenditure budget significantly from $93 million in fiscal 2024 to $130 million for the current year. This funding boost is earmarked for accelerating enhancements to the company’s research publishing platform and modernizing its general infrastructure.
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