News Corp is firing a warning shot at Donald Trump over AI ripping off his book content, including The Art of the Deal.
The Murdoch-owned media giant says AI is cannibalizing Trump’s concepts and hurting future book sales. News Corp publishes dozens of media outlets and owns HarperCollins, which published some of Trump’s books. The Art of the Deal came from Random House, but News Corp still flagged AI’s impact hard.
The company blasted the situation in its Q4 earnings statement: 
“The AI age must cherish the value of intellectual property if we are collectively to realize our potential,” News Corp said.
“Even the president of the United States is not immune to blatant theft. The president’s books are still reporting healthy sales, but are being consumed by AI engines which profit from his thoughts by cannibalizing his concepts, thus undermining future sales of his books.
“Suddenly, The Art of the Deal has become The Art of the Steal.”
This comes as media firms battle AI companies over copyright, suing OpenAI and Perplexity for using news content without permission. A judge refused to dismiss the New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI in March.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson confirmed deals and lawsuits are both on the table:
“It’s clear that many of them have come to recognize that the purchase of [intellectual property] is as important as the acquisition of semiconductors or the securing of stable energy sources,” Thomson said.
“It’s a mix of ‘wooing and suing’. We prefer the former, but we will never shy away from protecting our property rights.”
Tensions are high. Trump also sued the Wall Street Journal over a report linking him to Jeffrey Epstein. The paper has asked for the case’s dismissal.
Relations between Murdoch’s empire and Trump have dipped since his 2024 campaign. Meanwhile, News Corp crushed Q4 estimates thanks to a digital subscription bump from Dow Jones, home to the Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch.
The company announced plans on Monday to launch a new California-focused tabloid, the California Post, in early 2026.
Related: The inside story of the Murdoch editor taking on Donald Trump
