Fox Corporation reported a net loss of $50 million on Tuesday, or a loss of 10 cents per share, for its fiscal third quarter of 2023, compared to net income of $290 million reported in the prior year
quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned 94 cents per share.
“The variance was primarily due to charges associated with legal settlement costs at Fox News Media,” partially offset by investment gains, the company noted in its quarterly earnings release.
Total revenue came in at $4.08 billion, an 18% increase from the $3.46 billion reported in the prior-year quarter. Advertising revenues increased 43%, primarily reflecting the impact of Super Bowl LVII, a higher volume of NFL games and continued growth at Tubi. Affiliate fee revenues increased 3% with 9% growth at the Television segment. Revenues in the Other segment were essentially unchanged from the prior year quarter.
Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were expecting earnings of 88 cents per share on revenue of $4.04 billion.
The latest quarterly results come after Fox reached a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in April, in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter.
The Denver-based voting technology firm had accused top Fox News hosts and some network guests of defaming the company after suggesting its machines had been hacked or compromised during the 2020 presidential election.
Fox, which had stridently denied any wrongdoing, informed investors of the settlement but offered few details on its broader financial implications for the company. The company may be able to write off a significant portion of the expense from its taxes.
“Our fiscal third quarter once again demonstrated the effectiveness of Fox’s strategy to leverage the power of compelling live events to deliver for our viewers, advertisers, and distributors at scale,” chief executive officer Lachlan Murdoch said. “Against a backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainty, our portfolio of leadership brands combined with our balance sheet strength position us well to allow us to focus on creating shareholder value for the long term.”
In the Cable Network programming segment, revenue came in at $1.57 billion, compared to $1.58 billion during the same period a year ago. Affiliate fee revenues were broadly consistent with the prior year quarter as the impact of net subscriber declines was nearly offset by contractual price increases. Advertising revenue was $316 million, compared to $339 million in the prior year quarter. Other revenues increased $14 million or 10%, primarily due to higher Fox Nation subscription revenues. The segment posted EBITDA of $792 million, compared to $864 million in the prior year quarter.
Meanwhile, the television segment reported revenue of $2.48 billion, an increase of $655 million or 36% from the prior year quarter. Advertising revenues increased $590 million or 61%, primarily due to the broadcast of Super Bowl LVII and a higher volume of NFL games at Fox Sports, as well as continued growth at Tubi. Affiliate fee revenues increased $64 million or 9% led by higher rates at both the Company’s owned and operated stations and third-party FOX affiliates. The segment posted EBITDA of
$117 million, an increase of $82 million from the prior year quarter.
Fox’s Class A shares popped over 3% in pre-market trading on Tuesday. The company, which has authorized a $7 billion stock repurchase program, has repurchased approximately $3.4 billion of its Class A common stock and approximately $1 billion of its Class B common stock to date.
