CBS Profits, Revenue Beats Expectations

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 [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 01, 2018 16:54 ET (20:54 GMT)

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