Viacom's logo on the iconography of a dollar bill

Viacom grew its top and bottom-line financials for both the fourth-quarter and full-year 2017, but the company’s disbursed profit for its most recent three months wasn’t enough to satisfy Wall Street’s short-term plan. Blame the falling-through of its film-financing deal with China’s Huahua for much of that.

You see, media analysts had forecast Q4 earnings per share of 86 cents on $3.23 billion, per a Yahoo Finance poll. Viacom actually reported 77 cents per share on $3.32 billion — so the home to Paramount Pictures, MTV and Comedy Central raked in a higher overall revenue than predicted, but ended up with lower net income per share versus the early estimates.

A week ago, Viacom disclosed a $59 million expense associated with the now-dead $1 billion funding deal with the Chinese company. News of that big cost and lost opportunity came out too late to be considered for at least some analysts contributing to the 86-cent consensus.

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Zooming out a bit, part of the problem at Viacom continues to be cord-cutting. The company’s revenue would have been even better had it not been for lost cable subscribers. While Viacom certainly isn’t alone in this battle — just ask Disney’s ESPN — it has one of the more susceptible channel lineups when it comes to skinny bundling.

Back to the big screen, Paramount had a forgetful quarter at the box office, which was magnified when compared to the final quarter of fiscal 2016. Last year’s comparable 90-day period housed “Star Trek Beyond” — Viacom’s Filmed Entertainment segment simply had nothing this summer to maintain that momentum.

Also Read: Around 20 Laid Off at Viacom as Paramount, TV Land Restructure and Spike Exec Exits

“In the fourth quarter and full year, we made strong progress against our plan to fundamentally stabilize and revitalize Viacom, with top line gains in both Media Networks and Filmed Entertainment segments driven by continued execution on our strategic priorities,” Viacom president and CEO Bob Bakish said in a statement accompanying the Q4 and full-year financials. “We saw significant ratings increases across the portfolio, which drove sequential improvement in domestic advertising; our international business continues to expand, delivering double-digit revenue increases; and Paramount is demonstrating growth across multiple revenue streams as it rebuilds the theatrical slate and continues to grow its TV production business.”

“Additionally, we have completed several multi-year renewals of major distribution contracts — including our recent agreement with Charter — which secure broad, long-term carriage of Viacom’s networks for subscribers and expand our relationships with distributors through new, forward-looking advanced advertising and content production partnerships,” he continued. “We realized these achievements and established a stable base while reducing debt, improving free cash flow and strengthening our balance sheet.”

Also Read: Emily Ratajkowski Lingerie Photo Sparks Lawsuit Against Viacom

Shares of VIAB closed Wednesday at $24.61, up 7 cents on the day. The U.S. stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Viacom executives will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the quarter and full fiscal year in greater detail.

10 Biggest Billion-Dollar Entertainment Deals in 2016 (Photos)

Media and entertainment dealmakers returned in full force this year after a quiet 2015, as there were nine mergers and acquisitions valued at more than $1 billion -- from Chinese buyers such as the Dalian Wanda Group to AT&T, which agreed to acquire Time Warner for $85 billion. Here's a rundown of the biggest.
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10. Disney buys a minority stake in BAMTech

Price tag: $1 billion

In August, the Mouse House announced that it paid $1 billion for a 33 percent stake in streaming video technology company BAMTech, which was spun off from Major League Baseball’s MLB Advanced Media. Disney plans to use BAMTech’s technology to launch a standalone ESPN streaming service – but without the same content as linear ESPN.
Disney
9. Dalian Wanda Group buys Dick Clark Productions

Price tag: $1 billion

The real estate and entertainment conglomerate owned by China’s richest man continues to snap up showbiz companies by the billion, acquiring the Golden Globes and American Music Awards producer for a cool $1 billion earlier this month.
Dick Clark Productions
8. Rovi acquires TiVo

Price tag: $1.1 billion

Video technology firm Rovi Corp., bought the pioneering live-TV recording tech company for $1.1 billion in a deal that was finalized in September. After the deal was complete, Rovi adopted the better-known TiVo name.
Getty Images
7. AMC Theatres buys Carmike Cinemas

Price tag: $1.2 billion

Wanda-owned AMC Theatres acquired Carmike, the U.S.’ fourth-largest exhibitor, forming the biggest theater chain in the country with more than 600 theaters. That surpasses Regal Entertainment, which operates 565 locations.
AMC/Carmike
6. AMC Theatres buys Odeon & UCI Cinemas

Price tag: $1.2 billion

AMC also added Odeon & UCI Cinemas, Europe's biggest chain, to its ever-expanding suite of cinemas. AMC will rename the company to Odeon Cinemas Group and maintain its London headquarters.
AMC/Odeon & UCI
5. Dalian Wanda Group buys Legendary Entertainment

Price tag: $3.5 billion

Wanda was responsible for the first megadeal of 2016, when it acquired the “Jurassic World” production company for $3.5 billion. Legendary lost $500 million in 2015, but its action-packed fare such as “Warcraft” is popular in China’s fast-growing movie market.
Legendary/Wanda
4. Comcast's NBCUniversal buys DreamWorks

Price tag: $3.8 billion

The blowout success of animated films like “Zootopia” and “Finding Dory” was one of the stories of 2016, and NBCU doubled down on the genre by adding the “Kung Fu Panda” and “Shrek” studio to its fold.
DreamWorks
3. Lionsgate merges with Starz

Price tag: $4.4 billion

The “Hunger Games” studio and premium cable channel announced their merger plans in June, a year after telecom billionaire and major Starz shareholder John Malone bought a stake in Lionsgate. Starz will become an independently run subsidiary of Lionsgate once the deal is officially approved.
Lionsgate/Starz
2. Verizon buys Yahoo

Price tag: $4.8 billion – or maybe less

The embattled Internet 1.0 company finally found its lifeboat, selling its core business to Verizon for $4.8 billion in July, eight years after rejecting a $45 billion bid from Microsoft. But after the extent of Yahoo’s 2014 hack was revealed, Verizon was pushing for a $1 billion discount, and has been taking a second look at the deal.
Verizon/Yahoo
1. AT&T agrees to acquire Time Warner

Price tag: $85.4 billion

AT&T agreed to buy Time Warner, combining two century-old companies to create a content and distribution powerhouse in the biggest media deal since the ill-fated 2000 AOL-Time Warner merger. One caveat: Donald Trump, who has been an outspoken critic of Time Warner’s CNN, had threatened to block the deal. However, a Wall Street-friendly Republican Congress could provide a smoother path.
AT&T/Time Warner

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Rewind 2016: From China’s Dalian Wanda Group to AT&T, deep-pocketed buyers were chasing content all year

Media and entertainment dealmakers returned in full force this year after a quiet 2015, as there were nine mergers and acquisitions valued at more than $1 billion -- from Chinese buyers such as the Dalian Wanda Group to AT&T, which agreed to acquire Time Warner for $85 billion. Here's a rundown of the biggest.

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