Versant Net Income Falls 40% to $47 Million in Third Quarter

By Elena Vasquez

Versant Media's third-quarter net income fell more than 40% to $47 million, down $33 million from $80 million in the year-earlier period. The company attributed the drop to lower revenue plus public company costs and interest expense following its separation from Comcast.

The owner of MS NOW, CNBC and USA reported the figure in its quarterly results. Revenue fell 4.2% to nearly $1.6 billion, compared with $1.67 billion in the prior-year quarter. That is a loss of roughly $70 million in quarterly revenue, or about $280 million on an annualized basis.

Where did the declines come from?

Two traditional lines drove the contraction:

• Advertising revenue dipped 5.3% during the period.
• Distribution fees fell 5.8%.

Together they account for the bulk of Versant's top line. The company said its dependence on traditional media properties forced it to manage drops in cash from both advertising and distribution even as it acquires new direct-to-consumer operations and launches digital businesses tied to its linear properties.

The takeaway: linear television remains the revenue engine, and that engine shrank on both fuel types.

What grew?

Revenue from non-TV operations rose 9.6%. Versant cited higher revenue at Fandango, driven by movie ticket purchases and sales from its new cinema operating platform. That unit is one of the clearest signals of where the company wants its revenue mix to move.

What did the CEO say?

Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said the company would continue to make inroads in new businesses that diversified its revenue mix.

"In the third quarter, we advanced Fandango's evolution into a comprehensive entertainment platform, integrated Full Swing into our golf ecosystem, and launched MS NOW Membership to connect directly with our audiences," Lazarus said in a statement. "We're building deeper consumer relationships, expanding our reach and creating new opportunities for growth and monetization across our four core markets."

The statement names three concrete moves in one quarter: a platform expansion, an integration, and a direct-membership launch. The plain takeaway: management is pushing diversification faster than the legacy businesses decline.

Does the company still expect to hit its targets?

Yes. Versant reaffirmed its projection of between $6.2 billion and $6.45 billion in revenue for the end of the year. It also said it expected free cash flow for the period to exceed a prior estimate of between $1 billion and $1.2 billion.

For context, the midpoint of the free cash flow range equals roughly $1.1 billion, or about $275 million per quarter — more than 23 times the quarter's $47 million net income, underscoring the gap between cash generation and reported profit after separation-related costs.

What comes next?

The fourth quarter will test whether Fandango, MS NOW Membership and the golf ecosystem can grow fast enough to offset structural declines in advertising and distribution, with full-year results due against that reaffirmed $6.2 billion to $6.45 billion target.