Thanks to a certain super team, the Walt Disney Co. was the most profitable media company during the most recent financial quarter, SNL Financial reports.
The box office success of "The Avengers" combined with the bullish earnings from the media giant's theme parks and cable arms powered the Mouse House to $2.04 billion in profits for the three month period.
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Less fortunate was News Corp., a habitual resident on SNL Financial's list of the top 25 media earners. Rupert Murdoch's sprawling media empire fell off the list after reporting a $1.6 billion quarterly net loss due primarily to restructuring costs and a write-down in the value of its publishing business. That compared unfavorably to the $683 million in net income that News Corp. reported in the same period a year ago.
The company's $8.37 billion in quarterly revenue was second only to Disney, however. Disney reported $11.09 billion in revenue for its most recent earnings period.
The second most-profitable media company was a staple of the financial news world, not the entertainment industry. Thomson Reuters Corp. reported $935 million in net income for the period, making it far more profitable than Time Warner, Viacom and other media giants despite reporting substantially less in overall revenue.
Rounding out the top five most profitable media companies were Viacom with $547 million in profits, Time Warner with $429 million in profits and CBS with $427 million in profits.
