21st Century Fox 1st Quarter Results Announced

21st Century Fox have Released their last quarters report, covering July, August and September 2018. They have reported that their quarterly income of $1.29 billion, which is a 54% increase from the prior year quarter, and total quarterly revenues of $7.18 billion, a 2% increase from the same quarter in 2017.

Disney’s purchase of Fox is due to be completed by the first half of 2019, as both the US and European commissions have approved the purchase with some caveats, but it still has to go through its last hurdle in Australia. So there will only be a few more quarterly results before they are merged in with Disney and the parts of Fox that aren’t being sold, set to become a new “FOX”.

Due to Fox releasing less movies in this quarter, there was less income for their movie department but the company’s television and cable assets delivered strong results due to good advertising revenues from big events such as the midterm elections, NFL games and World Cup matches.

The earnings included $147 million from its 39% stake in Sky and a $114 million loss from its 30% stake in Hulu.

Commenting on the results, Executive Chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch said:

“We continue to deliver against our growth plan even as we make important strides toward completing our Disney transaction and launching FOX in the first half of 2019. We have assembled a stellar leadership team for FOX, giving us further confidence in the new company’s ability to capture opportunities in live programming while delivering long-term value for shareholders. Our quarterly performance builds on the operational and financial achievements of last year and sets up our businesses for continued momentum under both the enlarged Disney and the future FOX.”

And because of the impending purchase, Fox did not host a call for analysts.