Paramount Global The company missed fourth-quarter revenue expectations on Wednesday, but posted a surprise quarterly profit and delivered strong results from its streaming platform Paramount+.
Here’s how Paramount performed in the fourth quarter compared to Wall Street estimates from LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:
- Earnings per share: 4 cents versus an expected loss of 1 cent
- Revenue: $7.64 billion versus expected $7.85 billion
For the final three months of 2023, Paramount reported profit of $514 million, or 77 cents per share from $21 million or 1 cents per share in the previous year. Adjusted for one-time effects, earnings per share were 4 cents for the period.
Paramount — home to brands like CBS, Showtime, BET, Nickelodeon and its namesake film studio — reported a 6% year-over-year decline in revenue but saw notable progress in its streaming segment.
Paramount+, its flagship streaming service, reached 67.5 million subscribers in the period, a net gain of 4.1 million, and reported 69% year-over-year revenue growth. The company expects to reach profitability for Paramount+ by 2025, it said Wednesday.
Subscription revenue rose 43% in the fourth quarter, driven in part by price increases, and revenue across the direct-to-consumer segment rose 34%.
Paramount reported a 27% increase in global viewing hours on Paramount+ and Pluto TV in the fourth quarter.
“Looking forward, we remain focused on maximizing the return on our content investments and scaling streaming while transforming the cost base of our business,” CEO Bob Bakish said in a press release. “And I couldn’t be more excited about the initial momentum we’ve had across all platforms in 2024, demonstrating the power of our strategy and assets.”
Paramount has been exploring sale options for all or part of its business in recent months as the media landscape rapidly changes. Paramount has struggled without a solid growth narrative, with shares falling more than 50% over the past two years.
Warner Bros. Discovery had held preliminary talks to acquire Paramount, but those talks have since been halted, CNBC’s Alex Sherman reported Tuesday.
Paramount announced about 800 layoffs earlier this month, just a day after the company revealed it had achieved record viewership for this year’s Super Bowl.
The company reported Wednesday that its TV media revenue fell 12% year over year. The earnings release said advertising revenue fell 15% due to the overall “slowdown in the global advertising market and the 5% impact of reduced political advertising.”
Paramount’s film entertainment revenue fell 31% year-over-year, reflecting lower licensing revenue.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
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2024-02-28 22:03:43
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