Profit Up at Time Warner

NEW YORK: Net income at Time Warner soared 51 percent to $1.17 billion for the fourth quarter, despite revenue being largely unchanged.

Fourth-quarter revenue was essentially flat at $8.2 billion, with growth at the Networks segment being offset by the declines in the Film and TV Entertainment and Publishing segments. Revenues at the Networks segment increased 5 percent to $3.7 billion, including a 7-percent gain in subscription revenues and a 3-percent bump in advertising revenues. This was partially offset by the 9-percent dip in content revenues. The 4-percent decrease in revenues for the Film and TV Entertainment segment to $3.7 billion was due mainly to a difficult year-ago comparison.

Jeff Bewkes, chairman and CEO, said: “In 2012, we had another strong year financially and operationally while we laid the foundation for continued growth. For the year, Adjusted Operating Income grew 4 percent to a record $6.1 billion, and Adjusted EPS rose 13 percent to $3.28. And, in the fourth quarter, both our Networks and our Film and TV Entertainment segments achieved record profits, with our overall Adjusted Operating Income up 16 percent and Adjusted EPS up 24 percent. Last year, we also continued to successfully execute against our key strategic priorities, which are to invest aggressively in our content, to lead the digital transition of our industries, to expand internationally and to exercise financial discipline in everything we do. That was evident as HBO won more Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe Awards than any other network; TBS was the number one ad-supported cable network in prime time among adults 18-34; TNT had 5 of the top 10 original programs on ad-supported cable; CNN won election night; Warner Bros. Television again produced more primetime hits than any other studio; Warner Bros. achieved global success and acclaim with films like The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Argo; and Time Inc. increased its market share in a difficult publishing environment.”

Bewkes continued: “At the same time, we continued to expand our TV Everywhere offerings at Turner and HBO, put the full weight of Warner Bros. behind the UltraViolet home entertainment industry standard for storing digital movies in the cloud and launched digital subscriptions for Time Inc.’s domestic magazines on all major tablet platforms. We also continued to return capital to our stockholders, paying over $1 billion in dividends in 2012 and buying back $3.3 billion of our stock. Reinforcing our commitment to return capital and our confidence in our continued growth, this morning we announced that Time Warner’s board authorized a new $4 billion repurchase program beginning with purchases made in January 2013 and an 11 percent increase in our dividend.”