Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (the “Company”) (Nasdaq: WBD) today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. The Company will conduct a conference call today at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results. A link to the live webcast of the conference call will be available in the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website at https://ir.wbd.com/.
A telephone replay of the call will be available approximately two hours after the completion of the call until May 17, 2024. The replay can be accessed via phone by dialing +1 800-934-2750 or +1 402-220-1142. A replay of the audio webcast will also be available in the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website for twelve months.
David Zaslav, President and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery said, “We are pleased with our progress in the first quarter as evidenced by strong results in important KPIs. We delivered meaningful growth in our streaming business with a nice acceleration in ad sales, generating nearly $90 million in positive EBITDA for the quarter. We will soon be rolling out Max to 29 countries across Europe, and the content lineup for Max over the coming year is one of our strongest ever. Warner Bros. Pictures also had a strong start to the year as the first studio to reach $1 billion in both overseas and global box office, and they have a great slate in the works. Importantly, we once again delivered strong free cash flow, even in our seasonally weakest FCF quarter. We continue to make bold moves to transform our company for the future as we position ourselves to take full advantage of the opportunities ahead.”
Q1 Financial Summary & Operational Highlights:
- Q1 total revenues were $9,958 million. Revenues decreased 7% ex-FX compared to the prior year quarter.
- Net loss available to Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. was $(966) million, and includes $1,879 million of pre-tax acquisition-related amortization of intangibles, content fair value step-up, and restructuring expenses.
- Q1 total Adjusted EBITDA was $2,102 million, a 20% ex-FX decrease compared to the prior year quarter, primarily driven by the success of Hogwarts Legacy in the prior year quarter while Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League generated significantly lower revenues in the current year quarter.
- Cash provided by operating activities increased to $585 million. Free cash flow increased to $390 million, a $1.3 billion improvement versus the prior year quarter.
- Repaid $1.1 billion of debt during Q1. Ended the quarter with $3.4 billion of cash on hand, $43.2 billion of gross debt, and 4.1x net leverage.
- Launched a tender offer today to repurchase outstanding debt.
- Global DTC subscribers were 99.6 million at the end of Q1, an increase of 2.0 million subscribers vs. Q4. Global DTC ARPU was $7.83, a 4% ex-FX increase vs. the prior year quarter.
- Successfully launched Max and migrated subscribers to the new platform across Latin America.
- ID’s breakout series, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV is the 3rd best series launch-to-date across both Max and HBO Max, behind only The Last of Us and House of the Dragon.
- Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire have grossed over $1.2 billion in global box office. Dune: Part Two is the highest grossing movie of 2024 to date with over $700 million in global box office.
WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY REPORTS FIRST-QUARTER 2024 RESULTS
About Warner Bros. Discovery:
Warner Bros. Discovery is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world’s most differentiated and complete portfolio of branded content across television, film, streaming and gaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, Max, discovery+, CNN, DC, TNT Sports, Eurosport, HBO, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visit www.wbd.com.