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Time Warner revenue down, profits up

February 7, 2013

Time Warner reported fourth quarter operating income up 16 per cent, driven by record profits at Networks and Film and TV Entertainment. For the year OP was up 4 per cent on 2011 to $6.1 billion. Full-year Revenues decreased 1 per cent from 2011 to $28.7 billion, as growth at the Networks segment was more than offset by declines at the Film and TV Entertainment and Publishing segments.

Chairman & CEO Jeff Bewkes 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 per cent to a record $6.1 billion. 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 per cent. 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 primetime among adults 18-34; TNT had five of the top 10 original programmes 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 authorised a new $4 billion repurchase programme beginning with purchases made in January 2013 and an 11 per cent increase in our dividend.”

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