Warner Bros. Discovery
reported a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss and a decline in television revenue amid Hollywood strikes and a difficult advertising market.
Warner Bros.
(ticker: WBD) reported a third-quarter loss of 17 cents a share on revenue of $9.98 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting the entertainment company to report a loss of 9 cents a share on revenue of $9.97 billion.
In the same period last year, the company posted a loss of 95 cents a share on revenue of $9.82 billion.
The company reported content revenue for its networks segment of $215 million, a 22% decline from the same period last year.
“TV revenue declined significantly primarily due to certain large licensing deals in the prior year and the impact of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes,” the company said in the news release.
SAG-AFTRA actors have been on strike since July with workers demanding higher pay and residuals, as well as more concrete protections against artificial intelligence. Hollywood writers ended their strike at the end of September.
Total advertising revenue for the quarter of $1.8 billion dropped 12% from the previous year as the ad market remained soft, Warner Bros. said.
Warner Bros. shares declined 1.9% in premarket trading Wednesday to $11.39. Coming into the session, the stock has gained 22% this year.
Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]
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