# Bloomsbury's AI licensing revenue falls, squeezing profit margin

Published: 2026-10-23T06:39:22.467Z · Source: Bloomsbury Publishing (interim results) (https://www.bloomsbury-ir.co.uk/media/press_releases/2026/221026.asp)
Source date: 2026-10-22

Bloomsbury's Academic & Professional division grew revenue 5.9% to £48.8m in the six months to Aug. 31, 2026, but its adjusted profit fell to £6.8m from £11.0m a year earlier, and its margin to 13.9% from 23.9%, because the company's non-exclusive AI content-licensing agreement continued into the new year at a lower value, per Bloomsbury's own interim results. Group-wide adjusted profit fell 30% to £16.8m as consumer-division revenue also declined; Bloomsbury says it expects a record full year, pointing to two new Sarah J. Maas novels and HBO's Harry Potter series. The release does not name the AI licensing counterparty.

Why it matters: Bloomsbury's own numbers are the wire's first look at AI content-licensing income as something that resets rather than simply recurs, a data point other publishers leaning on these deals to offset falling consumer sales will be watching.

## What this answers

**How much did Bloomsbury's AI licensing income fall in its latest results?**

Academic & Professional adjusted profit fell from £11.0m to £6.8m, and its margin from 23.9% to 13.9%, in the six months to Aug. 31, 2026, because Bloomsbury's non-exclusive AI licensing agreement continued at a lower value, per the company's own interim results.


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