Thursday, August 6, 2009

CBS profit plunges 96% on lower ad sales

I guess we're not supposed to blame Katie or David Letterman for this development:


CBS Corps second-quarter profit sank 96% on lower ad sales and one-time gain, but the media giant cited early signs of a recovery.

"As we anticipated, early signs of a recovery took hold in the second quarter," with results better than the first quarter, said Chief Executive Les Moonves.

He added CBS expects the second half of the year to be "considerably stronger" than the first. Mr. Moonves noted CBS was the only network to add viewers this summer and that "we also have a strong slate of syndication titles in the pipeline for release between now and year-end."

CBS has suffered from a steep downturn in ad revenue and is losing viewers to the Internet. The company slashed its dividend, and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in June lowered its debt rating to one notch above junk, even after the company bought back debt with near- term maturities and issued longer-dated bonds.

For the latest quarter, CBS reported a profit of $15.4 million, or 2 cents a share, down from $408.4 million, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items such as a debt-extinguishment loss in the latest quarter and divestitures a year earlier, earnings fell to 8 cents a share from 49 cents.

Revenue dropped 11% to $3.01 billion on lower ad sales.


Hat tip: comments
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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good... they are going to need all those profits to pay Dan Rather when he sues them for not letting him lie in the air.

Anonymous said...

What!? They did let him lie. They encouraged it....then they took it back and threw him to the wolves when it looked like the real big wigs were going down. Enter, phony internal investigation before the US Attorney got a hold of them.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Katie, we couldn't have done it with out you!

Anon 2:50 LMAO

Anonymous said...

So how is Letterman doing, Les?

Anonymous said...

Maybe they should trot out Dan Rather with some forged financial statements showing a profit?

Anonymous said...

MAYBE THIS IS PARTLY WHY NO ONE WATCHES, TRUSTS THEM OR ADVERTISES WITH THEM?

CBS News Covers Up Abortion Funding in Health Care in Misleading Factcheck

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- CBS News has become the latest mainstream media outlet to come under criticism from pro-life advocates for covering up the abortion funding tucked away in the government-run health care plan.

The Associated Press had covered up the abortion funding but recently flip-flopped and admitted it exists.

In a Thursday news article posted on its web site titled "10 Health Care Reform Myths," CBS News lists number five as "Health Care Legislation Mandates Taxpayer Dollars Pay for Abortions."

Anonymous said...

Hey Les, maybe you should concentrate on landing just a few big sponsors, such as the Bucket Manufacturer's Association, for all CBS's water carrying for Obama?, the company that makes K-Y too ease your pain, and an entity involved in typeface technology, for old Danny boy?

Schadenfreude.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if (CBS) Constant Barack Swill is fact checking the claims of the Democrats about their deathcare bill? Oh of course not.

That would mean they’re a network not controlled by rank partisans.

Anonymous said...

O'Reilly and Katie are neck and neck in numbers of viewers each night and he's on cable!

Anonymous said...

...deathcare bill...

Where? Page and lines, please.

Anonymous said...

CBS can disappear any day, and I will not even know it. I have not watched them in years. I have to laugh at the phony awards the networks pass around to each other. Katie won an award for something lame, and she is the pits, as the CBS news ratings steadily drop will bear out. The feminists will hate to see her fail, but she stinks, and nothing can change that. Letterman lost a lot of sponsors as did CBS over his attack on Gov. Palin’s daughters. Sponsors want a lot more information about programs before they place their money and good name on the line. I would say
it is about time.

Anonymous said...

Page 1, line 1, you can read it for yourself, or can you?
In response to our child troll.
=====
“deathcare bill...
Where? Page and lines, please.”

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:00 Amen Brother!

Anonymous said...

Letterman and Bill From Mars (HBO) are pathetic losers who are now in viewership decline. Thank you general public!

Anonymous said...

However their revenues are only down 11%. Profits are a function of revenues less expenses. They can control profits easier than they can control revenue.

Most companies revenues are down much greater than 11% this year.