New York - Media conglomerate Time Warner posted a 38-per- cent drop in third quarter profit Wednesday. However the earnings results beat analysts' estimates, and helped prompt the company to raise its earnings outlook for 2009 from 1.98 dollars per share to 2.05 dollars per share.
The owner of Warner Bros film studio, CNN, the HBO cable channels and magazines like Fortune and People said it earned 661 million dollars, or 55 cents a share, compared to net income of 1.1 billion dollars, or 89 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. However the 2008 results included Time Warner's cable unit, which was spun off into a separate company in March.
Revenue fell nearly 6 per cent to 7.1 billion dollars as the recession combined with the flight of customers to the internet to hit advertising sales.
Time Warner confirmed that it still intended to spin off its own internet business AOL before the end of the year. AOL posted an 18- per-cent cut in revenue, as ad sales dropped 23 per cent. The company's magazine division also saw an 18-per-cent sales drop, as both advertising and subscription levels plummeted.
However, the losses were moderated by a stronger performance in the television and film businesses, which handily beat expectations and raised hopes that the company had turned a corner.
"Time Warner is firmly on track to post solid results this year in spite of the tough economic environment," said chief executive Jeff Bewkes in a statement. "I'm confident that the new content-focused Time Warner will be well positioned to deliver steady and attractive stockholder returns in 2010 and beyond."
