Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

News Corp To Acquire OPIS

02/08/2021

News Corp To Acquire OPIS

Leading Data and Analytics Provider for Energy and Commodities Markets Will Provide New Pillars of Growth for Dow Jones

Growing, High Margin, Subscription-Based Business Expected To Transform the Dow Jones Professional Information Business

New York, NY (August 2, 2021) - News Corp announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) and related assets from S&P Global and IHS Markit.

The scaled, highly profitable and consistently growing digital data, analytics and insights provider will become part of Dow Jones' burgeoning Professional Information Business (PIB), which includes Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones Newswires and Factiva. OPIS has a revenue base that is nearly 100% digital, 95% recurring and operates at approximately 50+% Adjusted EBITDA margins1, with modest Capex requirements.

News Corp is acquiring OPIS for $1.150 billion in a cash transaction, subject to customary adjustments, and also expects to receive an estimated tax benefit of $180 million as part of the transaction2. S&P Global and IHS Markit announced in May their exploration of the divestiture of the businesses to ensure a timely merger of both companies. News Corp's acquisition of OPIS is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and the consummation of the S&P Global and IHS Markit merger, which is expected in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.

Founded in 1977, OPIS today is a global industry standard for benchmark and reference pricing and news and analytics for the oil, natural gas liquids and biofuels industries, and a growing provider of insights and analytics in renewables and carbon pricing. At its core, OPIS provides end-to-end pricing and analytics information to the energy industry from the refinery to the retailer.

With this acquisition, Dow Jones will also be providing pricing and news and analytics for the Coal, Mining and Metals end markets through McCloskey, among other brands. In addition, Dow Jones will be well poised to leverage the global transition to renewables and the growth opportunities resulting from emerging energy categories like hydrogen, carbon credits, biofuels, LNG, solar, water and electric vehicles.

OPIS will also help Dow Jones in its goal of building the leading global business news and information platform for professionals. With its valuable data, which is used as a currency for the industry, OPIS has deep and trusted customer relationships with high renewal rates, and a seasoned management team with an average of 18 years of experience.

OPIS will be the cornerstone for a rising commodities, energy and renewables digital business that we are convinced will have a positive impact on Dow Jones and News Corp, said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. We certainly believe OPIS and Dow Jones will be more than the sum of their valuable parts. Dow Jones is ideally positioned to accelerate growth at OPIS, while OPIS will be a powerful pillar, alongside Risk & Compliance, in the fast-growing Dow Jones Professional Information Business.

OPIS and related assets revenues have grown at an approximate 10% CAGR, including acquisitions, since 2016, as disclosed by IHS Markit, and grew at a consistent rate through the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, the 2014-2015 oil market downturn and the current pandemic. In its current fiscal year (ending November 30, 2021), OPIS is expected to generate approximately $129 million in revenues, with Adjusted EBITDA growing at a faster rate, and expected Adjusted EBITDA margins exceeding 50%.

The energy and commodity pricing information industry is estimated to be at $3 billion as of 2020 (source: Burton-Taylor), with a 5-year CAGR of more than 7%. Given the large scale and global corporate and societal response to climate change, the fast-growing renewable energy markets have rising demand for the kind of data and analytics Dow Jones will be able to supply with OPIS. OPIS' retail offerings have the ability to grow outside the US and in segments like connected cars and electric vehicles.

Dow Jones and OPIS together can be a leading provider of energy and renewable information, combining trusted news, data, analytics, events and an interconnected professional community, said Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones. OPIS's expertise in commodities, energy and renewables aligns with Dow Jones' focus on building deeper specialization in specific verticals around valuable content. OPIS is expected to accelerate PIB's growth by adding a highly profitable, growing business that can expand even faster as part of Dow Jones.

OPIS, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, also has offices in Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Romania and Singapore. The company employs approximately 400 professionals globally.

News Corp will report its full year 2021 results on August 5, 2021. As of the Third Quarter year to date, Dow Jones revenues increased 4 percent while Segment EBITDA expanded 49 percent, on 21% Segment EBITDA margins, and achieved record profitability.

###

1 Adjusted EBITDA margin is the ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to revenues. In its fiscal year ended November 30, 2020, OPIS generated revenue and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $121 million and $61 million, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA excludes corporate allocations of $11 million from EBITDA. EBITDA for the OPIS business excludes depreciation expense of $2.8 million, restructuring and other expense, net of $4.5 million and equity losses from investees of $0.2 million from net income of $42.1 million. All figures based on information provided by IHS Markit Ltd.

2 News Corp expects to receive a step up in tax basis resulting in an annual deduction over the next 15 years with an estimated tax benefit of $180 million on a present value basis.

For
LINK: https://newscorp.com/2021/08/02/news-corp-to-acquire-opis/...
See more stories from newscorp

North America Stories

12/08/2026

LPTV Advocates Petition FCC for Voluntary 5G Broadcasts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Tubi Media Group Inks Content Discovery Deal with Gracenote

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Matrox Video Showcases IP-Based and Software-Defined Tech...

As Matrox Video celebrates 50 years of trusted innovation, the company will showcase its portfolio of interoperable IP technologies and software-defined innovat...

12/08/2026

SMPTE Showcases AI and Open Media Workflows and Industry...

SMPTE, the home of media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced a program of expert-led sessions, professional workshops and networking eve...

12/08/2026

Berklee Announces Full Details for Inaugural Block Party, a Music Festival Next to Fenway Park

Berklee Announces Full Details for Inaugural Block Party, a Music Festival Next ...

12/08/2026

ACLU Requests ABC Station Probe Documents from FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Roger Keating To Retire from Hearst Television

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Netflix Closes U.S. Upfronts, Nearly Doubles Ad Commitments

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

CBS Pittsburgh Debuts New AR/VR News Studio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Matthews Intros T-Go Extreme Rigging Solutions

Matthews Studio Equipment introduces T-Go Mounting Solutions extreme camera rigging systems, engineered for the most demanding environments in motion picture pr...

12/08/2026

Anton Bauers EDEN Becomes Only Mobile Power Station in it...

Anton/Bauer, a Videndum brand and the industry leader in mobile power solutions for broadcast and cinematic production, announces that the EDEN Mobile Power Sta...

12/08/2026

TAG Video Systems Cuts Hardware Costs for Customers with...

TAG Video Systems, the global leader in software-based IP monitoring and multiviewer solutions, today announced a memory usage optimization that lowers the tota...

12/08/2026

Unified Streaming Launches Trusted Media - C2PA in Dynami...

Unified Streaming announces Trusted Media, a new solution that enables broadcasters, streaming platforms, and premium content owners to attach verifiable authen...

12/08/2026

Tedial Powers the AI-Driven Media Supply Chain at IBC 202...

Combining intelligent automation, composable business services and user-centric experiences The media industry is entering a new phase where AI intelligence is...

12/08/2026

DPA Microphones Appoints Raul Contreras as West Coast Reg...

DPA Microphones welcomes Raul Contreras as its new West Coast Regional Sales Manager. In this role, Contreras will oversee sales and customer relationships thro...

12/08/2026

Weather is Not a Factor for Marshall Electronics New CV57...

Marshall Electronics' first all-weather, all-IP 4K POV camera, the CV574-WP, makes its European debut at IBC 2026 (Stand 10.C11). Built for the elements, th...

12/08/2026

A double off-switch helps cells respond to stress

LA JOLLA, CA-Scientists at Scripps Research have discovered that two seemingly unrelated cellular enzymes become locked together during times of stress, simulta...

12/08/2026

NVIDIA CEO Tops Glassdoor's 2026 List of Best CEOs

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang is ranked No. 1 on Glassdoor's Best CEOs list for 2026. In the just-released ranking, recognition is earned directly fr...

11/08/2026

Apple To Bring Friday Night Baseball Live to Apple Immersive on Vision Pro Beginning Aug. 28

Weekly immersive broadcasts will feature 8K 3D video, a 180-degree field of view...

11/08/2026

Looking for a New Cameraperson? ProductionHUB Guide Lays Out Considerations, Pitfalls

By Briana Brady, Social Media Manager, Production Hub Sports content is having ...

11/08/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Backlight CEO Kathleen Barrett on Building Media Infrastructure for a Global, AI-Driven Sports Landscape

She addresses why media organizations need more than asset storage, how sports t...

11/08/2026

FloSports Dennis LeMire on Implementing Cloud-Based Workflows on Lower Tier Sports

Remote commentary has improved significantly on these broadcasts At a clip of ...

11/08/2026

Miami HEAT's Revamped IP-Based Control Room Coordinates Workflows With Meinberg Intelligent Modular Synchronization System

A pair of LANTIME IMS M2000 PTP Grandmasters deliver resilient timing infrastruc...

11/08/2026

LTN Expands Live Event Master Control Capabilities for Sports Organizations

LTN has announced expanded capabilities for its Live Event Master Control offering, providing sports broadcasters, leagues, rights holders, and content owners w...

11/08/2026

WTA Ventures Appoints IMG as Managed Production Services Partner

WTA Ventures has appointed IMG as its managed production services partner in a multi-year agreement commencing with the 2027 season. The partnership is the late...

11/08/2026

New York Jets and CBS New York Extend Multi-Year Partnership

The New York Jets and CBS New York have agreed to a multi-year extension of their partnership, keeping CBS New York as the official broadcast home of the team. ...

11/08/2026

Nielsen Acquires DoubleVerify to Create New Combined Media Intelligence Platform

Nielsen Holdings and DoubleVerify have announced a definitive agreement under which Nielsen will acquire DoubleVerify in an all-cash transaction with an enterpr...

11/08/2026

AES Elects David v.R. Bowles as President-Elect for 2027, Unveils Other Election Results

The Audio Engineering Society has announced the results of its 2026 Board of Dir...

11/08/2026

SVG Sit-Down Creator Sports Network's Barrick Prince on Building the Next Layer of the Live-Sports Rights Stack

The CSN co-founder details its network and affiliate' model, how creator wi...

11/08/2026

Gravity Media Providing Host Broadcast Operations for Esports World Cup 2026

Gravity Media is providing host broadcast operations for the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026, supporting ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) in delivering the tournament to glo...

11/08/2026

TAG Video Systems Reduces Memory Requirements for Compressed Workflows

TAG Video Systems has released a memory usage optimization for its MCM software that reduces the cost per channel by up to two-thirds for compressed workflows. ...

11/08/2026

SMT Expands LED Production and Scoring Services at 2026 Cincinnati Open

SMT is expanding its technology partnership with the Cincinnati Open this year, adding new LED displays, production capabilities, and fan-facing experiences at ...

11/08/2026

Pac-12 to Stream Fall Olympic Sports Home Events Free on YouTube

The Pac-12 has announced that home Olympic sports broadcasts throughout the fall season will be available free on the conference's YouTube channel at youtub...

11/08/2026

Case Study: Real Life Network Taps LiveU for Broadcast-Grade Streaming

Spreading a message of faith requires both widespread accessibility and uncompromising visual quality. Real Life Network (RLN), a free, faith-based digital stre...

11/08/2026

Tennessee Titans' New Nissan Stadium Will Live Up to Its Music City Location

Taking the synergy of sports and entertainment a step further, the NFL venue in Nashville will house iterations of two iconic music clubs The marriage of Taylo...

11/08/2026

Dolby Acquires VVC Patents From Florida Atlantic University

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

Alyson Stewart Joins Zixi as Senior Director, Sales

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

FCC Issues Alert Over Scammers Impersonating Its Commissioners

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

Comcast, Disney Ink Deal to End NFL Network Blackout

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

farmerswife and Cirkus are Exhibiting at IBC 2026

farmerswife and Cirkus will return to IBC 2026 to showcase new tools designed to help broadcast, media and post-production teams manage workflows with greater s...

11/08/2026

LiveU Powers Cross-Venue Coverage of Glasgow Commonwealth...

LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit played a central role in the host broadcast operation for the Games in Glasgow (July 23 to August 2, 2026). The host b...

11/08/2026

Jigsaw24 Appoints James Morse as Client Director to Drive...

Jigsaw24 has appointed James Morse as Client Director, Media Sales, as it deepens its focus on sports, live events and integrated production. His appointment co...

11/08/2026

Net Insight enables one of Europes largest broadcast grad...

Net Insight today announced that DMC Production Norway has selected its Open Live Media solution to centralize the production of Blinkfestivalen 2026. Combining...

11/08/2026

Vivaro Supports Record World Cup Audiences with the Appea...

Modular HEVC and JPEG XS workflows enabled resilient, ultra-low-latency delivery for leading linear and digital media platforms across all 104 matches Appear A...

11/08/2026

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola Mndez

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola M ndez The first cuatrista to graduate from Berklee talks about the community that shaped her career ahead of her Homecom...

11/08/2026

FOR-A To Highlight MixBoard, Viztrik AiDi Enhancement At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

AMWA and EBU to Host Demos at IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

Dalet Solution Suites Enable Media Teams to Move Like a S...

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced Dalet Solution Suites, a new portfolio of cloud-native solutions ...

11/08/2026

Mediagenix Helps Broadcasters Prepare for Brazil DTV Futu...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase how media companies can prep...

11/08/2026

NVIDIA AI Factory Compute Is Becoming an Investable Asset Class

We announced partnerships with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to establish independent financing platforms designed to mobiliz...