Wiley began the first quarter of fiscal 2025, which ended July 31, wrapping up some of the last items left over from fiscal 2024, in which the company restructured its operations in a process that involved the sale of three businesses as well as layoffs. And, in more carryover from fiscal 2024, Wiley said that it expects to expand its generative AI content licensing program and upgrade its internal AI capabilities in the current year.
In fiscal 2024, Wiley implemented a $23 million AI deal with an undisclosed large tech company, and was working on another agreement with a second tech company worth $21 million. The latter agreement was implemented in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, and Wiley reported $17 million in revenue from that deal in its learning group in the quarter.
The inclusion of the AI revenue was the major factor in a 14% sales increase at Wiley in the quarter, to $124 million, over the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Excluding the AI project, revenue in the quarter was down 1%, as gains in the sale of academic courseware were offset by a “moderate” decline in professional publishing. In Wiley’s bigger operating group, research, sales rose 3%, to $265 million, due to gains in open access and institutional publishing.
Wiley has also completed its divestiture program, although two of the deals were finalized August 31, a month after the quarter was closed. The goal of the restructuring program, Wiley said, was to create a more focused and profitable company. Excluding the impact of the companies it recently sold, Wiley’s revenue was up 6%, to $390 million, and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ) increased 22%, to $73 million.
Matthew Kissner, who was named Wiley president and CEO in July after serving in an interim role since October, said that he and the leadership team “are pleased with how we started the year.” He told analysts in a conference call that Wiley is prepared to "move decisively on AI opportunities."
Kissner explained that the two AI deals mostly involved licensing backlist titles that were published at least three years ago. Interest from tech companies is focused mainly on book content, not research, he added—although that could change as companies finish developing their large language models and move on to further applications.
Kissner explained that both agreements are designed to protect all rights held by Wiley and its authors. He noted that copyright holders whose works are licensed to tech companies are compensated as per contractual terms. Interest in Wiley's content remains strong, Kissner said, and Wiley has set up a team to examine AI deals that meet Wiley's licensing standards.
To position itself for the future, Wiley upped its capital expenditure budget from $93 million in fiscal 2024 to $130 million this year. The increased budget will go towards accelerating work on upgrading the company’s research publishing platform as well as general infrastructure modernization.
