General Electric, the parent company of NBC Universal, reported net earnings of $5.5 billion for the third quarter, up 14 percent over last year’s $4.8 billion. Revenue grew by 12 percent for the same period, from $37.8 billion to $42.5 billion. At NBCU, revenues hit $3.7 billion, up 3 percent over last year’s $3.6 billion. The division earned $589 million, up 9 percent over last year’s $542 million — a better performance than in Q2, when profits were up just 2 percent on lower year-over-year revenue. The company cited a strong television lineup and a string of popular films this summer for the growth.
Still, NBCU revenues are down 9 percent year to date, from $11.9 billion last year to $10.8 billion. Income for the year is up 5 percent, from $2.07 billion to $2.18 billion.
Earnings Release | Webcast | Presentation
Update: The presentation pdf included a mention of launches next month for NBC Direct and Hulu. Both are supposed to go into beta this month so have asked NBCU for clarification. NBCU says the actual call mentioned later this month (although the audio matches the presentation). We still expect both this month.
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