AI Data Deal TrackerDeal brief
Informa books more than $75 million from AI data access deals in 2024
Informa reported that agreements with AI companies for access to Taylor & Francis content generated more than $75 million of non-recurring revenue in 2024. Only one buyer, Microsoft, has been named.
LONDON, July 24, 2024. Informa said in its half-year results that Taylor & Francis expects to earn about 58 million pounds, or $75 million, from AI partnerships in 2024. The company later reported that the figure was more than $75 million of non-recurring data access revenue.12
Terms of the deal
Informa described two AI partnerships. One is with Microsoft, reported at an initial $10 million for access to content. The second partner was not named by a Taylor & Francis spokesperson.1 The agreements allow AI companies to use archive content to train and improve large language models. Taylor & Francis says it limits verbatim text reproduction and preserves authors' royalty rights.1
Informa said it planned to reinvest a third of its AI-related profit in technology, open research and AI product development.1 Bloomberg Law later reported that Informa sold $75 million of non-recurring data access in 2024.2
Background
The Microsoft arrangement was disclosed in Informa's May 2024 trading update, and the July results added the second partner and the revenue expectation.1 Informa told investors it expected more AI partnerships during the financial year.1 The disclosure made Taylor & Francis one of the largest known earners from selling academic content for AI.
Authors told the trade press they had not been informed of the deals or offered an opt-out, and the publisher's statements about royalties conflicted with their accounts.1
What it means for data sellers
This is a revenue disclosure, not one contract. It shows that a publisher with a deep archive can sign several non-exclusive licenses in a single year and report the total as a one-off line. Sellers should expect buyers to keep identities and unit prices confidential, and should decide up front how much of the revenue will be shared with the people whose work is sold.
How the deal came together
- Informa signed more than one AI partnership. In its July 2024 half-year results Informa said it had two AI partnerships and expected more later in the year.
- Taylor & Francis content was the asset. The agreements let AI companies use Taylor & Francis archive content to train and improve language models.
- Revenue was booked as non-recurring. Informa classified the data access revenue as non-recurring and said it would reinvest up to a third of the profit in product development and open research.
- The total was confirmed later. Informa's annual report for 2024 stated that the AI data access revenue exceeded $75 million.
Takeaways for companies with data
- A large archive can be monetized several times, by different buyers, without being sold outright.
- Public companies disclose totals, not buyers or unit prices. Expect the same opacity in your own deals.
- Investors treat this revenue as one-off, which affects how a seller should plan reinvestment.
Sources
Every numbered reference above points to an entry here. Figures come from these pages as of the date shown at the top of the article. Where a source reports a number it got from unnamed people, the text says so.
- Taylor & Francis set to make 58m from AI in 2024 as it reveals second partnership (The Bookseller, July 2024)
- Academic Publishers Sign AI Deals as US Cuts Research Grants (Bloomberg Law, June 2025)
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About the AI Data Deal Tracker
SellYourAIData tracks publicly reported sales and licenses of data to AI companies, with the price, terms and sources for each. Entries are checked against public reporting and updated as deals change. SellYourAIData was not involved in this deal. To ask what your company's data could sell for, get a free valuation. To report a deal, contact us.