quarterly reports

Comcast narrowly beat Wall Street estimates in the third quarter despite volatility in the U.K. and Europe, tough comparisons with the year-ago Tokyo Olympics quarter and ongoing cord-cutting. Earnings per share came in at 96 cents, 6 cents better than analysts’ consensus estimate. Total revenue also cleared the bar at $29.8 billion, though it was down 1.5% from the year-ago period. At NBCUniversal, adjusted EBITDA rose almost 25% to $1.7 billion despite losses at streaming service Peacock. Revenue slid 4% to $9.6 billion.

The quarter’s weak results raised fresh questions about whether Meta’s plans to spend $10 billion a year on the metaverse — a concept that doesn’t quite exist yet and possibly never will — is prudent while its main source of revenue is faltering. The quarterly results from Meta Platforms Inc. sent its stock tumbling 19% in after-hours trading to $105.20. If the sell-off holds through Thursday’s regular trading day, it will be the lowest it’s been since 2016. The stock closed Wednesday down 61% for the year.

Alphabet Inc., which owns an array of smaller technology companies in addition to Google, on Tuesday posted revenue of $69.1 billion for the July-September quarter, a 6% increase from the same time last year. It marked the first time Alphabet’s year-over-year quarterly revenue has risen by less than 10% since the April-June period of 2020. At that time, the advertisers that generate most of its revenue pulled in their reins because of the economic uncertainty during the pandemic’s early months.

The maker of Snapchat has been struggling with a sharp slowdown in its advertising business.

Frndly TV, which bills itself as the affordable TV service for the whole family, said it continued to grow in the second quarter, posting gains in subscriber usage and advertising impressions. The amount of time Frndly TV subscribers spent on the service increased 58% in the quarter, compared to a year ago. April saw a 62% increase. On a per-subscriber basis, the time spent on the platform rose 12%.

Comscore said it reduced its second-quarter net loss as revenues rose 4.3%. The measurement company lost $5.1 million, or 10 cents a share, in the quarter, compared to $87.7 million, or 28 cents, a year ago. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $6.5 million, up from $2.6 million. Revenue was $91.4 million, up from $87.7 million.

The increase to $785 million is driven by growth in both political and subscription revenues.

The increase to $356 million was powered by climbing political advertising and increased retransmission consent revenue. For the company as a whole, total 2Q revenue was $594 million, an increase of 5.2%, or $29.4 million.

The increase to $868 million was driven by a big increase in political advertising as well as higher retransmission consent money.

The increase to $1.2 billion was driven by strong political advertising revenue and healthy year-over-year increases in distribution, digital and other revenue, offset by a decline in core advertising.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp.’s April-June profit totaled 218 billion yen ($1.6 billion), up from 212 billion yen a year earlier, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said Friday.

Amazon lost $2.03 billion, or 20 cents per share, in the three-month period ended June 30, driven by a $3.9 billion write-down of the value of its stock investment in electric vehicle start-up Rivian Automotive. That compared to a profit of $7.78 billion a year ago. But Wall Street was cheered by Amazon’s $121.2 billion in revenue, topping expectations of $119 billion.

Comcast beat Wall Street analysts’ estimates for the second quarter, delivering total revenue of $30 billion and earnings per share of $1.01. The targets were $29.75 billion and 92 cents, respectively. NBCUniversal revenue rose 19% to $9.4 billion, while adjusted EBIDTA increased almost 20% to $1.86 billion.

The results largely followed a broader decline in the digital advertising market that is dinging Meta rivals such as Google, Twitter — which also posted a revenue decline — and Snap. Google’s parent company Alphabet reported its slowest quarterly growth in two years on Tuesday.

Perhaps disabusing the video business of the notion that sustained double-digit growth is merely a matter of transitioning models from subscriber to advertising focus, YouTube just reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth in more than two years. Alphabet said during its second quarter earnings report Tuesday that YouTube generated $7.34 billion from April-June, up 4.8% year over year. The expansion missed equity investor forecasts of around $7.49 billion.

Nielsen reported higher second quarter earnings and said its new ratings system would roll out on schedule as it looks to complete being acquired by a private equity group. Net income rose to $111 million, or 31 cents a share, compared to $76 million, or 21 cents a share a year ago. Revenue rose 2.4% to $822 million.

In its first full quarter of results, TelevisaUnivision reported a modest uptick in revenue and reiterated its belief in having a unique market opportunity, though its adjusted income faltered due to investments in streaming. The earnings report reflected operations during the quarter ending June 30. On January 31, Univision and the media division of Mexico-based Televisa completed a $4.8 billion merger, creating the world’s top Spanish-language media company and keeping it privately held.

The latest quarterly earnings figures offered a glimpse into how the social media platform has performed during a months-long negotiation with billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk after he said that he would buy the company, and then changed his mind. It was worse than industry analysts had anticipated.

The April-June contraction of 970,000 accounts, announced Tuesday as part of Netflix’s second-quarter earnings report, is by far the largest quarterly subscriber loss in the company’s 25-year history.

The measurement company said its first quarter net loss was $9.3 million, or 14 cents a share, compared to a $36 million loss, or 49 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $6.8 million from $5.6 million. Revenues increased 4% to $94 million from $90.3 million a year ago.

The NFL legend will join Fox Sports whenever he hangs up his cleats. The news came during the company’s call with analysts to report another growth quarter the company, with total revenues up 7% to $3.2 billion. Ad revenue grew 9% overall to $1.3 billion, led by stronger pricing and higher ratings at Fox News and continued growth at Tubi, the company’s ad-supported streaming service.

The increase to $1.2 billion was driven by gains across all revenue categories including core, political distribution, digital and other.

Sony’s fiscal fourth quarter surged 67% to 111.1 billion yen ($852.7 million) from the previous year, as the Japanese entertainment and electronics company racked up profits in video game and movie divisions, the company said Tuesday.

The increase to $774 million is due to record first quarter advertising and marketing services revenue.

Dish Network counted subscriber losses for both its satellite and streaming pay TV businesses, totaling 462,000 across both vMVPD Sling TV and Dish TV. “In regard to subscribers for all our brands, we simply didn’t execute according to our expectations,” said Dish CEO Erik Carlson on Friday’s quarterly earnings call.

Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based media giant RTL Group, which owns Fremantle, has declared revenues of €1.56 billion ($1.64 billion) for the first quarter of 2022, a growth of 11.3%. The RTL Group has interests in 64 television channels, nine streaming services and 36 radio stations. The group’s content business, Fremantle, is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content, including American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor.

The increase to $827 million was driven by increase in local, national and political advertising as well as retransmission consent money.

The increase to $327 million is pegged to increases in core advertising and retransmission consent revenue.

The decrease to $1.3 billion is attributed to lower media revenues comprising lower core and total ad dollars and decreased distribution revenues.

Paramount Global on Tuesday said it added over 6 million streaming subscribers in the first quarter but missed revenue estimates, hurt by weak growth in advertising sales. The company’s results come at a time when Wall Street has raised concerns over the long-term viability of streaming as the pandemic boom ebbs out. Net earnings attributable to Paramount fell to $433 million, from $911 million a year earlier.

Supply chain issues are limiting the number of players and smart TVs available to new streaming customers, and that’s a problem for companies like Netflix and Roku.

On Thursday, Amazon reported a loss of $3.84 billion, or $7.56 a share, for the first three months of the year. A year ago, it reported a profit of $8.1 billion, or $15.79 a share, for the first quarter. Wall Street analysts expected a profit of $8.35 a share in the latest quarter, according to FactSet. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant’s stock almost 10% in after-hours trading.

The results for the January-March period drew a picture of a still-expanding empire generating massive profits that have yielded the firm a $2.7 trillion market value — the largest among U.S. companies.

Nielsen today reported lower earnings as it prepares to be acquired by a private equity group lead by Elliott Investment Management. Net income fell to $105 million, or 29 cents a share, compared to $573 million, or $1.60 a share, reflecting the sale of its Global Connect business for $2.7 billion last year. The company said net income from continuing operations was $101 million, down from $106 million. Revenue rose 1.6% to $877 million.

Comcast reported a revenue of $31 billion and an earnings per share of 78 cents, seeing its earnings jump as a result of increased viewership of the Olympics and the 2022 Super Bowl, but it also logged an operation loss stemming from NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock to tune of $456 million, as per the media conglomerate’s first-quarter earnings report Thursday.

Shares of Facebook parent Meta jumped 18% in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported earnings that topped estimates even as revenue was disappointing. Revenue rose 7% in the quarter, marking the first time in Facebook’s 10-year history as a public company that growth has landed in the single digits. Analysts were expecting 7.8% growth.

When is a 14% increase in quarterly ad spending a bad thing? When it’s for YouTube. While it was a healthy double-digit increase, it was a “deceleration” from 24% growth YouTube had in the fourth quarter of 2021, and it was the main reason Wall Street analysts attributed to a sell-off in parent Alphabet’s shares following the release of its first quarter results.

Warner Bros. Discovery reported a 13% revenue jump and consistent streaming subscriber growth for its fiscal first quarter Tuesday. The results don’t include first-quarter performance from WarnerMedia, which Discovery bought this month. The company reported revenue of $3.16 billion and net income of $456 million. Shares rose as much as 2% in premarket trading.

Spanish-language TV powerhouse TelevisaUnivision said on Tuesday that its revenue would have increased 12.2% to more than $1 billion in the first quarter when looking at its combined business created by a $4.8 billion mega-merger at the end of January.