Record Quarterly Revenues for Time Warner

NEW YORK: Fourth-quarter revenues at Time Warner gained 5 percent to $8.6 billion, driven by strong performances at Turner, HBO and Warner Bros.

"We had another very successful year in 2013, with Turner, Home Box Office and Warner Bros. all posting record profits while also investing for future growth," said Jeffrey Bewkes, chairman and CEO of Time Warner.

Turner's revenues in the quarter rose to $2.5 billion, with an operating income down 10 percent to $853 million. Sub revenues gained 6 percent, while ad revenues were up just 1 percent. For the year, revenues rose 5 percent to $10 billion, with 5 percent gains in both subscription and ad revenues partially offset by a 2 percent drop in content revenues, largely as a result of the closure of TNT in Turkey in Q2 2012. Full-year operating income rose 10 percent to $3.5 billion.

HBO posted Q4 revenues of $1.3 billion, a 6 percent gain, delivering an operating income of $413 million. Subscription revenues for HBO were up 8 percent, but content revenues fell 9 percent mostly because of lower home-video revenues, even though there were higher international licensing revenues. For the year, revenues rose 4 percent to $4.9 billion, and operating income was up 16 percent to $1.8 billion.

At Warner Bros., Q4 revenues were up from $3.7 billion to $4 billion, with operating income up to $573 million. Full year revenues gained 2 percent to $12.3 billion, thanks to stronger theatrical and video-game slates and an increase in electronic sell-through. TV licensing revenues, however, were down, as were physical home-video revenues. Operating income rose 8 percent to $1.3 billion.

Overall Time Warner full-year revenues were up 4 percent to $29.8 billion, with operating income up 12 percent to $6.6 billion. Net income for the quarter was down from $1.1 billion to $983 million, but for the year the company reported improved net income of $3.7 billion, up from the prior year's $2.9 billion.