US AT&T Reports Q4 Net Profit of $5 Billion, Turning Positive

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] US telecommunications and media group AT&T turned profitable in the fourth quarter of last year, supported by revenue growth from its content subsidiary WarnerMedia.

On the 26th (local time), AT&T announced through its quarterly earnings report that its net income for the fourth quarter of last year was $5 billion, reversing from a net loss of $13.89 billion in the same period the previous year.

On a per-share basis, earnings were 69 cents, a significant improvement from a loss of $1.95 per share in the same period last year, but below market expectations of 76 cents.

During the same period, revenue was $41 billion, down more than 10% from $45.7 billion in the same period last year.

Among this, revenue from its core wireless communications business increased by 2.4% year-over-year to $30.2 billion, and the consolidated revenue from WarnerMedia’s online video service (OTT) helped offset some of the revenue losses.

WarnerMedia, which operates the OTT HBO Max, saw its fourth-quarter revenue surge 15.4% year-over-year to $9.9 billion.

With strong media assets, AT&T signed a merger agreement with Discovery, known as the documentary kingdom, in May last year, aiming to build a powerful OTT business model capable of competing with Netflix and Disney Plus.

Following the earnings announcement, AT&T stated in a conference call that "the merger between subsidiaries WarnerMedia and Discovery will be completed within the second quarter."

WarnerMedia’s OTT HBO Max grew both in scale and substance. As of the end of last year, HBO Max’s global subscriber count reached 73.8 million, surpassing the target set earlier last year (70 to 73 million). Subscription revenue also increased by 11.5% due to the rise in subscribers.