CBS Profits, Revenue Beats Expectations
November 01 2018 - 4:09PM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Armental
CBS Corp. turned in a strong quarterly financial showing,
reaching record revenue and subscribers following months of
corporate turmoil.
It was the broadcaster's first earnings report since longtime
Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves was forced to step down
following accusations of sexual harassment and assault and the
company settled its legal spat with controlling shareholder
National Amusements Inc.
Mr. Moonves has denied the allegations.
The company's annual shareholder meeting, originally scheduled
for May 18, is now slated for Dec. 11.
CBS's board currently has 10 members, down from 14 at the start
of September. Only five of them were on the board when CBS reported
second-quarter earnings. Interim Chairman Richard Parsons stepped
down on Oct. 21, citing health reasons, and was succeeded by
Strauss Zelnick.
CBS on Thursday reported a third-quarter net profit fell to $488
million, or $1.29 a share, from $592 million, or $1.46 a share, a
year earlier. On an adjusted basis, profit rose to $1.24 a share
from $1.11 a share a year earlier.
Revenue rose 2.9% to $3.26 billion, including a 14% increase
from advertising and an 8% increase from content licensing and
distribution.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $1.22 a share in profit
and $3.25 billion in revenue.
In August, when CBS released second-quarter results, company
executives said subscriptions to the company's direct-to-consumer
streaming services -- CBS All Access and Showtime OTT -- were ahead
of schedule and were expected to reach 16 million domestic
subscribers by 2022.
On Thursday, acting Chief Executive Joseph Ianniello said the
company was significantly expanding its direct-to-consumer
streaming services and was on track to meet its 2018 revenue and
earnings targets.
Shares, which lag the market with a 0.9% decline this year,
closed Thursday at 58.49, up 2% for the day.
Keach Hagey and Joe Flint contributed to this article.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 01, 2018 16:54 ET (20:54 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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