Warner Bros. Discovery trims costs and losses but misses forecasts

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 8/3/2023, 7:59 a.m.
Warner Bros. Discovery reported a larger-than-forecast loss in the second quarter, but the loss was narrower than a year ago.
Warner Bros. Discovery reported a larger-than-forecast loss in the second quarter, but the loss was narrower than a year ago. Mandatory Credit: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Originally Published: 03 AUG 23 08:25 ET

by Chris Isidore, CNN Business

New York (CNN) — Warner Bros. Discovery reported a larger-than-forecast loss in the second quarter, but the loss was narrower than a year ago.

The company, the owner of CNN, lost $1.2 billion, or 51 cents a share adjusted for certain items, down sharply from the $3.4 billion, or $1.50 a share it lost over the same period a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected an adjusted loss of 38 cents a share in the period.

The smaller loss came as the company cut costs by $2.2 billion, or 16% compared to a year ago.

Revenue rose 5% to $10.4 billion, which was close to Wall Street forecasts. The results did not include the strong box office from the movie “Barbie,” which was released in the third quarter.

The company’s closely watched streaming business reported a narrow $3 million loss on an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) basis. That’s a big improvement from the $518 million it lost on that basis a year earlier but down from the positive adjusted EBITDA of $50 million in the first quarter.

The company launched its Max streaming service, rebranding what had been HBO Max and rolling in content from Discovery+. It said its total streaming subscribers slipped by 1.8 million to 95.8 million at the end of quarter, compared to the end of the first quarter.

The streaming service is “is tracking well ahead of our financial projections,” said CEO David Zaslav.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery rose in premarket trading following the report.

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