Fox Corp. said it swung to a $50 million loss last quarter from a $290 million profit the year before mostly due to the cost of a legal settlement with Dominion Voting Services.
Sales jumped 18% last quarter to $4.08 billion advertising revenues rose 43%, 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%. Other revenue was essentially unchanged from the prior year quarter.
“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,” said CEO Lachlan Murdoch.
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“During the quarter, the largest audience in U.S. television history gathered to watch FOX Sports’ broadcast of Super Bowl LVII, underpinning our delivery of double-digit revenue growth, and providing a promotional gateway to Fox’s entertainment and news brands.”
“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.”
Murdoch will hop on a call with financial analysts shortly.
It’s been a tumultuous spring for the Fox. In April, the company agreed pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to settle a defamation lawsuit just before it was set to start in Delaware Court. Rupert Murdoch, Fox executives and hosts would have been called to testify on Fox 2020 election claims on Fox News. A Fox statement acknowledged “the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”
Soon after, Tucker Carlson, host of Fox News’ top-rated Tucker Carlson Tonight was shown the door, leaving the ratings challenged.
There’s also a WGA strike, although analysts say Fox may be relatively less impacted than other legacy media companies given that it leans more into unscripted content. The strike now in its second week hit just ahead of upfront presentations is impacting the fall television season. Picket lines on both coasts have paused production on a various shows.
MORE to come…
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