Twenty-First Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA), Rupert Murdoch’s entertainment company, reported large slumps in fiscal fourth-quarter profit and revenue. Shares fell.
Net income plunged 91 percent to $87 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, in the three months ended June 30, from $999 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, a year earlier.
Profit, excluding some items, fell to 39 cents a share. That topped the $0.37 average of 26 analysts’ estimates.
Fourth-quarter revenue fell to $6.21 billion from $8.42 billion a year earlier. The result missed estimates of $6.42 billion.
Revenue in Fox's film studio business fell by a third to $1.91 billion as no major titles released in the quarter.
Quarterly television revenue came in slightly lower than expectations at $987 million and was down from the year-earlier period.
Fox recorded the lowest ratings among the Big Four broadcasting networks in the 2014-2015 television season, according to Nielsen data. This was reflected in the 4.3 percent decline in the company's television revenue in the fourth quarter.
Shares declined 6.8 percent to $29.74 at 2:56 p.m. in Toronto, extending slump this year to 22 percent.
Revenue in its cable network programming business rose 6.6 percent to $3.57 billion, boosted by coverage of NASCAR and ICC Cricket World Cup sporting events. The business accounts for more than half the company's total revenue.
The company announced a $5 billion authorization to its stock buyback program as well as a 15 cent dividend.
"We made clear operational strides over the last year that will further position us to benefit from the strong and growing global demand for high-quality video content," Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch said.