Fox Corp. Impresses With Strong First Quarterly Earnings Report

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Fox Corporation outperformed Wall Street’s expectations by delivering strong earnings in the newly minted company’s fiscal third quarter.

Fox delivered year-over-year profit growth of 16%, to $529 million, on revenue of $2.75 billion, which was up 12%. Earnings of 85 cents a share surpassed analyst expectations that were in the neighborhood of 76 cents.

The Fox News and Fox Sports cablers were as expected the biggest earnings drivers, delivering $741 million of earnings compared to $99 million for the broadcast television segment. Affiliate fee revenue across Fox Corp. was up $1.42 billion, from $1.28 billion in the year-ago quarter. Advertising saw more modest gain to $1.08 billion, compared to $1 billion.

Fox shares were up more than 5% in after-market trading Wednesday afternoon on the strength of the earnings news.

“Our first quarterly results as demonstrate the strength of our businesses as we delivered strong top line growth across our operating segments and across our key revenue categories,” said Murdoch. “Fox commences as a standalone company with strong assets in unique positions to succeed in the evolving media landscape. Our team is all pulling in the same direction and achieving great things together.”

The TV-focused Fox Corp. was created in March after Disney completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

(Pictured: Lachlan Murdoch)