Versant, the spinoff of Comcast made up of its legacy cable channels, released its first set of financial results which saw both revenue and profit for the first half of 2025 falling from a year ago.
The company saw its profit for the first six months of the year fall 16% to $670 million and its revenue fell 6% to $3.42 billion, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The disclosure marks the first glimpse into the financial health of the spinoff, which includes among its assets cable channels such as MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, SYFY and Oxygen, as well as digital assets like Fandango. The company is expected to complete its spinoff from Comcast by the end of the year, but no specific date has been given.
The declining revenue and earnings highlight the challenge facing CEO Mark Lazarus and his leadership team. The cable business has faced steady declines in viewership and ad dollars as more audiences cut the cord and opt for streaming and other digital alternatives.
The intent behind the spinoff is that a team solely focused on these businesses will be able to turn the fortunes around for these networks. The challenge is significant, as noted in the filing’s risk factors, which include everything from competitions from streaming to advertising dollars moving away from linear TV.
Notably, the company listed unfavorable litigation and government investigations as risks factors. These are boilerplate concerns that most companies list, but take on new relevance given the litigious nature of Trump and the progressive perspective of MSNBC (soon to be MS NOW), which has never hesitated to criticize the president.
The company also disclosed that it ended the first half with $4 million in cash, $11.6 billion in assets and $1.03 billion in debt.
