Warner Bros Discovery met Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday, as the box-office hit "Barbie" helped offset a sluggish advertising market and a studios segment starved of content due to two Hollywood strikes.
Although Hollywood's film and television writers ratified a new, three-year contract in September, ending their 148-day work stoppage, members of the SAG-AFTRA actors union have been on strike since July, roiling the industry's 2024 film slate and depriving media companies of new content to sell.
The media company forged by the union of WarnerMedia and Discovery reported overall third-quarter revenue of $9.98 billion.
The company reported free cash flow of $2.06 billion, compared with $1.72 billion in the prior quarter, as it spent less on production as a result of the strikes. This surpassed expectations for $1.74 billion, according to Visible Alpha.
Advertising revenue at its networks segment declined 12% to $1.71 billion as global conflicts and inflation create an uncertain climate for marketers.
(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru and Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
