Fox Surges Past Wall Street Expectations In September Quarter Despite Modest Ad Revenue Gains

Fox Corp. eclipsed Wall Street analysts’ expectations in its fiscal first quarter, reporting adjusted earnings per share of $1.51 and total revenue of $3.7 billion.

Analaysts’ consensus outlook was for earnings per share of $1.06 and revenue of $3.58 billion.

The solid overall quarter came despite sluggish movement of the company’s all-important advertising business. Ad revenue in the Television unit, which includes the Fox broadcast network and local stations, rose 6% to $1.07 billion, while in the Cable Network Programming division it went up 7% to $345 million.

During the quarter, the company officially entered the subscription streaming race, launching Fox One. The comprehensive service includes access to several linear networks as well as an array of sports, news, entertainment and weather content.

The other big feature of the July-to-September period was football. Fox is averaging 5.9 million viewers for its Big Noon Saturday telecasts of Big Ten games. Its Sunday late afternoon window for the NFL is often the most-viewed of the week, with this year’s matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs pulling in a whopping 33.8 million viewers.

Apart from operating results, the quarter also saw the stunning resolution to a long-running family drama, as patriarch Rupert Murdoch reached a settlement designating his son, Lachlan, as principal heir to his media empire. The agreement included sizable payouts to other children James, Liz and Prue, who had indicated their possible intent to undo the conservative orientation of Fox and corporate sibling News Corp. after the passing of the elder Murdoch, now 94.

Lachlan Murdoch is CEO of Fox Corp.

MORE to come …