Viacom's Q2 profit falls 32% as sales slide

Viacom Inc today said that its second-quarter profit tumbled 32 percent as revenue fell amid a weak advertising market, slower video game sales and lower box-office results.

The New York-based media conglomerate controlled by billionaire Sumner Redstone earned $277 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with $407 million, or 65 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Excluding 3 cents per share in severance charges, adjusted earnings were 49 cents per share in the latest quarter. On that basis, earnings beat analyst expectations by a penny per share,according to a Thomson Reuters survey.

Revenue slipped 14 per cent to $3.3 billion, missing analysts'estimate of $3.5 billion.

 

Revenue at the company's media networks segment slid 8 per cent to $1.97 billion, due in part to slower sales of Viacom's "Rock Band" video game.

Domestic ad revenue dropped 6 percent and international advertising was down 8 per cent.

In the Viacom's filmed entertainment unit, which includes the Paramount Pictures movie studio, box-office results for "Star Trek" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" fell short of last year's releases. Theatrical revenue dropped 27 percent to $584 million, while home entertainment fell 29 per cent to $435 million. TV licensing fees climbed 5 per cent to $314 million.