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Taylor & Francis gives Microsoft access to its learning content for AI, about $10 million up front
Informa, parent of academic publisher Taylor & Francis, disclosed a non-exclusive agreement giving Microsoft access to advanced learning content and data. The first payment was about $10 million, with further recurring payments over three years.
LONDON, May 8, 2024. Informa, the parent company of academic publisher Taylor & Francis, disclosed an agreement under which Microsoft gets access to advanced learning content and data. The initial access fee was about $10 million, with recurring payments over the next three years.1
Terms of the deal
Microsoft receives non-exclusive access to learning content and data, and Informa can use Microsoft's AI expertise to improve its own productivity.1 The initial data access fee was around $10 million, and the recurring payments that follow over three years have not been quantified.1 The Bookseller reported the first-year value as roughly 8 million pounds, or $10 million, and said the content may be used to train and improve large language models.2
Taylor & Francis said the agreement protects intellectual property, limits verbatim text reproduction and preserves authors' royalty rights under their contracts.2
Background
Taylor & Francis is Informa's specialist knowledge research publisher and accounted for 19% of Informa's sales at the time.1 The Microsoft arrangement was one of two AI partnerships Informa reported in 2024. A second partner was not named.2 Informa also said it expected further AI partnerships later in the financial year.2
Authors objected once the deal was reported. Academics told The Bookseller they were not informed, were not offered an opt-out and were not receiving additional royalties, a description that conflicted with the publisher's statements about author royalties.2
What it means for data sellers
The structure is worth noting: a fixed access fee up front, then recurring payments, on a non-exclusive basis. A seller that holds rights from many contributors should check what those contracts allow before signing, and decide how it will communicate with contributors. Here the money was real, but the lack of notice shaped the public reaction. See also the later Informa disclosure of more than $75 million in 2024 data access revenue.
How the deal came together
- Informa disclosed it in a trading update. The agreement first became public in Informa's May 2024 trading update, which described Microsoft access to learning content and data.
- Payment was split into two parts. An initial data access fee of around $10 million was paid, with recurring payments of undisclosed size over the following three years.
- The deal was non-exclusive. Taylor & Francis said it keeps the right to license the same content to others, and that the agreement limits verbatim reproduction and preserves author royalty rights.
- Authors reacted after the fact. Academic authors told the trade press they had not been told of the deal and had no chance to opt out, which became the main public controversy.
Takeaways for companies with data
- A publisher can price a rights grant as an up-front access fee plus smaller recurring payments.
- Non-exclusive terms let the same archive be sold again to other buyers.
- Telling contributors early matters. Authors learned of this deal from financial reporting, and the backlash followed.
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.
- ii view: confident Informa does AI data deal with Microsoft (interactive investor, May 2024)
- Taylor & Francis set to make 58m from AI in 2024 as it reveals second partnership (The Bookseller, July 2024)
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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.