Shares of Comcast climbed 5% despite posting mixed results for its fourth quarter on Thursday, with total revenue climbing 1.2% to $32.31 billion, but profit falling 54.6% to $2.17 billion.
The company was weighed down by continued pressure in its broadband and pay TV businesses, shedding 181,000 customers in the former and 245,000 in the latter during the quarter. It also suffered a $122 million loss in in its media business — a 140.9% decrease driven by higher programming costs at Peacock and elevated sports rights expenses at its linear networks, both of which included costs from the launch of the NBA. Peacock posted a widened loss of $552 million, but grew its total paid subscriber base to 44 million.
Also hurting Comcast’s results were lower content licensing revenues due to the timing of content available from its film and TV studios and lower theatrical results from titles such as “Wicked: For Good” and “Black Phone 2.” But Comcast’s mobile and theme park businesses remained bright spots during the quarter, with the latter’s profits and revenue given a boost from its new Epic Universe theme park, which opened in May 2025.
Here are the results for the quarter:
Net income: $2.17 billion, down 54.6% year over year, due to an “unfavorable comparison” that included a which included a $1.9 billion income tax benefit due to an internal corporate reorganization. On an adjusted basis, net income fell 17% year over year to $3.062 billion.
Earnings per share: 60 cents per share, down 52% year over year. On an adjusted basis, EPS came in at 84 cents per share, down 12.4% year over year, compared to 76 cents per share expected by analysts estimates compiled by Yahoo Finance.
Total Revenue: $32.31 billion, up 1.2% year over year, compared to $32.34 billion expected by analysts estimates compiled by Yahoo Finance.
“2025 was a year of meaningful progress for us,” Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh told analysts on Thursday. “We moved with urgency to make decisive management, operational and structural changes, resetting how we run our businesses and how we compete all with a clear focus on positioning the company for sustained growth.”
Comcast sees no strategic advantage in NBCUniversal spin, taking ‘wait and see’ approach on M&A
The latest quarterly results still reflect Comcast’s cable network portfolio, which was spun out into Versant earlier this month. When asked if the company would take a look at spinning out NBCUniversal, executives said they do not see a strategic advantage in doing so.
“The advantages we have, it’s sitting inside the company. It doesn’t get stronger by being smaller as a standalone entity is our view. What our view is is to create value by executing against the plans we have,” Cavanagh explained.
“I don’t think there’s any doubts about the strength and value creation opportunity that we have in parks. We’re leaning in heavily to that. I don’t think we need anything more than just the team we have and the resources that we can put behind it. It’s very much the same in the studio business,” he continued. “So the real work to do is on the media side, execute now post-Versant on the integrated domestic strategy, to have a broadcast business aligned with a streaming business in Peacock that adds to it the pay one movie windows from our studios, as well as the strong sports news and entertainment that goes along with it to drive Peacock towards profitability.”
At the same time, Comcast executives said they are taking a “wait and see” approach with M&A after losing out in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, but are “always open” to conversations and opportunities to build value.
“We saw an opportunity to see if we could build value for the Comcast shareholders. Their international reach would have been additive. But once it looked like all cash, we were just not interested in these values, stretching our balance sheet to do something like that,” Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts said of the company’s bid for Warner’s streaming and studio assets. “I don’t know how much more we can say, except that it forced us in the journey to really take a good look at what we have and what we’re building.”
Comcast continues to bleed broadband, pay TV subscribers
Connectivity and platforms revenue fell 1.1% to $20.32 billion and profits fell 4.3% to $7.5 billion as the company lost 181,000 customers during the quarter for a total of 31.26 million. It also shed 245,000 video customers for a total of 11.27 million, though it was an improvement from a loss of 311,000 video customers in the prior year period. Mobile was a bright spot with 364,000 wireless lines added for a total of 9.3 million.
Executives said that the competitive environment for broadband “remains intense,” but that its been encouraged by the progress made in its new go-to-market strategy for the segment. They expect continued pressure on average revenue per user for the next couple of quarters, driven by the absence of rate increases, the impact of free wireless lines and ongoing migration of its base to simplified pricing. It also expects continued pressure on profits until the second half of 2026, when it anticipates the vast majority of its free wireless lines will become paying relationships.
“While it’s still early, we remain encouraged by what we’re seeing, including lower voluntary churn, strong adoption of our five year price guarantee, significant improvement in take rates of gig plus speeds and continued uptake of free wireless lines,” chief financial officer Jason Armstrong said. “We remain focused on transitioning the majority of our customer base to simplified market pricing plans, and importantly prioritizing getting to the other side of this transition as quickly as possible.”
Peacock’s losses widen on increased sports rights costs after NBA launch
Total media revenue increased 5.5% to $7.62 billion due to higher international networks, domestic distribution and domestic advertising revenues. Domestic ad revenue increase 1.5% to $2.68 billion, which included a positive impact from the launch of the NBA.
Domestic distribution revenue grew 5.3% to $3.04 billion, driven by an increase in Peacock revenue and subscribers, offset by lower linear TV revenue. International networks grew 19% to $1.3 billion, driven by higher revenue associated with the distribution of sports networks and the positive impact of foreign currency.
Peacock added 3 million subscribers during the quarter for a total of 44 million, but the streamer’s losses widened to $552 million from a loss of $372 million a year ago. Revenue grew to $1.6 billion, from $1.3 billion a year ago.
“Peacock has reached a meaningful scale and continues to demonstrate improving monetization, giving us confidence our ability to absorb near term investments, including the first full year of the NBA,” Armstrong said. “In 2026, we expect Peacock losses to meaningfully improve again.”
Absent M&A, Cavanagh said NBCUniversal’s content, combined with price increases, would help Peacock reach breakeven. In addition to gearing up for the Olympics and Super Bowl LX in February, “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan’s new film deal with NBCUniversal will also kick off in March, while his TV deal will begin following the expiration of his deal at Paramount in 2028.
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Studios profits fall on lower content licensing, theatrical results
The studios division saw profits drop 38.4% to $351 million and revenue decline 7.4% decline to $3.03 billion. Content licensing revenue fell 8.3% to $2.19 billion, while theatrical revenue fell 20% to $411 million.
The declines were driven by the timing of content available to its film and TV studios and tougher comparisons against prior-year theatrical releases, including “Wicked” and “The Wild Robot.” Titles released during the quarter included “Wicked: For Good” and “Black Phone 2.”
Comcast touted its 2026 film slate, which includes Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” “Super Mario Galaxy,” “Minions 3” and Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day.”
Epic Universe boosts theme parks growth
Theme parks profits climbed 23.5% to $1.04 billion and revenue jumped 21.9% to $2.89 billion, driven by higher revenue at its domestic theme parks and the opening of Epic Universe in May 2025.
“We’re really pleased with what we’re seeing from Epic which continues to drive higher per cap spending and attendance across the entirety of the resort,” Armstrong said. “While we’re not yet operating at full run rate capacity, we’ve made meaningful progress expanding ride throughput, and we remain focused on scaling further over the next several quarters, with higher attendance, stronger per caps and additional operating leverage over time.”
2026 will mark the first full year of operation for Epic Universe. It will also open its upcoming Universal Kids Resort in Frisco, Texas, debut its first outdoor rollercoaster at Universal Studios Hollywood and will break ground on its new resort in the United Kingdom.
Comcast completes Versant spin
Comcast completed the spinoff of its cable networks into Versant earlier this month. Led by CEO Mark Lazarus and Chief Financial and Operating Officer Anand Kini, Versant houses USA Network, CNBC, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel, as well as digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and SportsEngine.
Versant shares, which trade under the ticker symbol VSNT, are down over 20% since its Nasdaq debut earlier this month, though some of the initial volatility was due to forced selling by index funds rebalancing their portfolios.
As part of the separation, Comcast shareholders received one share of Versant Class A or B common stock for every 25 shares of Comcast Class A or B common stock, respectively, held at the close of business on Dec. 16. Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts does not serve as a member of Versant’s board, but retains 33.3% of the total voting power in the company.
In addition to the results, Comcast’s board maintained a dividend of $1.32 per share for 2026. A quarterly cash dividend of 33 cents per share is payable on April 22 to shareholders of record as of April 1.
