Viacom profit as sales fall
April 28, 2016
The weakest performer in the US media sector and embroiled in a lawsuit that challenges the competency of main owner Sumner Redstone, Viacom managed to report a March quarter profit on lower revenues.
Viacom’s net earnings were $303 million in the second quarter, compared to a loss of $53 million a year ago, when the company took $784 million in charges for restructuring and retiring programming. Excluding the charge, Viacom’s profits would have been down from a year ago. Revenues fell 3 per cent to $3billion. Nonetheless the numbers beat Wall St’s lowered expectations.