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Warner Bros. Discovery Q4 Earnings Miss, Revenues Decline Y/Y
WBDWarner Bros. Discovery(WBD) ZACKS·2025-02-27 17:20

Core Insights - Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) reported a fourth-quarter 2024 loss of 0.20pershare,missingtheZacksConsensusEstimateofaprofitof0.20 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a profit of 0.04 per share, and compared to a loss of 0.16inthesamequarterlastyear[1]−Revenuesdecreasedby2.50.16 in the same quarter last year [1] - Revenues decreased by 2.5% year over year to 10.02 billion, falling short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.3% [1] Revenue Breakdown - Advertising revenues fell by 12% year over year to 1.83billion,impactedbydeclinesindomesticlinearaudienceandasoftadvertisingmarket[2]−Distributionrevenuesremainedflatat1.83 billion, impacted by declines in domestic linear audience and a soft advertising market [2] - Distribution revenues remained flat at 4.91 billion, with growth in global DTC subscribers offset by domestic linear pay TV subscriber declines [2] - Content revenues decreased by 2% year over year to 2.9billion,whileotherrevenuesincreasedby162.9 billion, while other revenues increased by 16% to 371 million [2] Segment Performance - Studios segment, accounting for 36.5% of total revenues, reported a 15% increase in revenues to 3.65billion,withcontentrevenuesup163.65 billion, with content revenues up 16% ex-FX [3] - Games revenues declined by 29% ex-FX, attributed to the strong performance of last year's titles [4] - Networks revenues, making up 47.6% of total revenues, decreased by 5% year over year to 4.76 billion [4] Subscriber and ARPU Details - WBD ended Q4 2024 with 116.9 million global DTC subscribers, an increase of 6.4 million sequentially [8] - Global DTC ARPU decreased by 5% ex-FX to 7.44,influencedbygrowthinlowerARPUinternationalmarketsandad−tiersubscribergrowth[9]OperatingandFinancialMetrics−Selling,generalandadministrativeexpensesdecreasedby9.77.44, influenced by growth in lower ARPU international markets and ad-tier subscriber growth [9] Operating and Financial Metrics - Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by 9.7% year over year to 2.21 billion [10] - Total Adjusted EBITDA was 2.7billion,an112.7 billion, an 11% ex-FX increase compared to the prior year [10] - Free cash flow was reported at 2.42 billion, down from 3.31billionintheprioryear[11]BalanceSheetOverview−AsofDecember30,2024,cashandcashequivalentswere3.31 billion in the prior year [11] Balance Sheet Overview - As of December 30, 2024, cash and cash equivalents were 5.31 billion, up from 3.33billionasofSeptember30,2024[13]−Thecompanyendedthequarterwith3.33 billion as of September 30, 2024 [13] - The company ended the quarter with 40 billion of gross debt and a net leverage ratio of 3.8X [13] - Average duration of outstanding debt was 13.4 years, with an average cost of 4.7% [13]