paramount skydance On Monday, the media company beat Wall Street’s first-quarter revenue and profit expectations as its streaming and movie businesses continued to perform well.
The company reported first-quarter sales of approximately $7.35 billion, up 2% year over year. This was boosted by its entire streaming business, including Paramount+, BET+, and its free ad-supported service, Pluto.
Streaming segment revenue increased 11% year over year to $2.4 billion. Paramount+, the mainstay of the company’s streaming portfolio, added 700,000 subscribers during the quarter, with revenue up 17% year-over-year.
Paramount+ has nearly 80 million total subscribers, and the most recent quarterly increase is the platform’s first since August 2024, despite price increases for Paramount+ plans in January.
Paramount’s movie studio’s revenue rose 11% from a year earlier to about $1.28 billion. “Scream 7” contributed to the revenue increase and became the highest grossing film in the horror film series.
The company said its 2026 film schedule has nearly doubled compared to 2025 since the merger of Paramount and David Ellison’s Skydance was completed last year.
But Paramount’s TV media business, which, like its peers, includes broadcast networks CBS and cable TV channels such as Nickelodeon, MTV and BET, was weighed down by continued cord-cutting. The segment’s sales were $3.67 billion, a decrease of 6% compared to the same period last year.
Here’s how Paramount Skydance’s first-quarter results compare to Wall Street’s forecasts compiled by LSEG.
Earnings per share: 23 cents adjusted, 15 cents expected; Revenue: $7.35 billion, $7.28 billion expected.
This is the first quarter in which Paramount Skydance is reporting under the new structure, which includes restructuring across direct-to-consumer streaming, studio and television media expense allocation. As part of the changes, the company revised its financial numbers for the prior period.
Paramount reported first-quarter net income of $168 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with net income of $152 million, or 22 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier, when its so-called predecessor company.
Paramount reported adjusted earnings per share of 23 cents, adjusting for one-time transaction-related items.
The company on Monday reaffirmed its full-year guidance of $30 billion in revenue and $3.8 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
The earnings report comes nine months after the Paramount-Skydance merger was completed, and the company is in the midst of closing on another deal, an acquisition offer. warner bros discovery.
The company expects the deal with WBD to close at the end of the third quarter. The acquisition was approved by WBD shareholders in April and is currently under regulatory review. Paramount Skydance has agreed to acquire WBD for $31 per share in an all-cash deal and has recently been arranging debt and equity commitments from outside investors.
As part of the Paramount-Skydance merger, the company said it expects to save $3 billion. Paramount confirmed on Monday that it plans to implement these cuts through 2027, with more than $2.5 billion expected to be cut by the end of 2026.
Paramount Skydance plans to integrate the technology stacks and platforms of its three streaming platforms by the middle of this year. Since Ellison’s merger of the two companies, the overall focus has been on improving Paramount’s streaming technology.
