{"id":137767,"date":"2026-05-14T13:35:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/14\/versant-vsnt-earnings-q1-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:37:22","slug":"versant-vsnt-earnings-q1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/14\/versant-vsnt-earnings-q1-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Versant (VSNT) Earnings Q1 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108306860\">\n<div role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108306860\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000412922\" data-test=\"VideoPlaceHolder\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-videoEmbed\" id=\"InlineVideo-0\" data-test=\"InlineVideo\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-inlineThumbnailContainer\"><span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"\/><span\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p><span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1\">Versant Media Group<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>    on thursday <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/investors.versantmedia.com\/news-releases\/news-release-details\/versant-media-reports-first-quarter-2026-operating-and-financial\">unveiling results<\/a> For its most recent quarter \u2013 its first as a stand-alone company after the separation <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-4\">Comcast&#8217;s<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>    NBCUniversal and began trading on the Nasdaq earlier this year. <\/p>\n<p>The report reveals continued pressure in traditional pay TV bundles, but highlights growth in digital platforms and licensing businesses.<\/p>\n<p>Versant&#8217;s stock rose nearly 7% in early trading after rising nearly 11% in the premarket.<\/p>\n<p>Linear distribution revenue for its pay TV networks \u2013 which include CNBC, MS Now and Golf Channel as well as USA, E!, Syfy and Oxygen \u2013 declined nearly 7% to $1.01 billion during the period. The company said this was due to a decline in customer numbers and partly offset by rate increases. <\/p>\n<p>Advertising revenue for the first quarter fell 5% to $368 million, which was considered an improvement from the same period last year when it declined 12%. <\/p>\n<p>However, revenue from content licensing increased 113.5% to $121 million <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/press.hulu.com\/pressrelease\/hulu-acquires-rights-to-all-seasons-of-keeping-up-with-the-kardashians\/\">For mass licensing<\/a> The long-running reality TV series hit &#8220;Keeping Up with the Kardashians&#8221; and other content airs on Disney&#8217;s Hulu.<\/p>\n<p>Revenue from Versant&#8217;s platform business, which includes Fandango, GolfNow and some previously launched direct-to-consumer units, rose 9.5% to $192 million. <\/p>\n<p>CEO Mark Lazarus said on Thursday&#8217;s earnings call with investors that the company aims to &#8220;build scale and expand our audience&#8221; in direct-to-consumer. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yes, we hope this will bring in a larger base of subscribers and we will assess ourselves what revenue looks like across our different forms of delivering content,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p>Lazarus said the company is working to ensure it increases &#8220;revenue diversification across each of our verticals.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>More than 80% of Versant&#8217;s revenue comes from the pay TV business. However, executives have told Wall Street that it aims to eventually rebalance its revenue mix so that 50% is derived from its digital, platform, subscription, ad-supported and transactional businesses. <\/p>\n<p>Total revenue for the period ended March 31 declined nearly 1% to $1.69 billion compared with the same quarter last year. Wall Street analysts polled by LSEG had expected revenue of $1.62 billion. <\/p>\n<p>Versant&#8217;s net income for the quarter declined 22% to $286 million, or $1.99 per share, which the company said was due to lower revenue, higher public company costs and interest expense following the spinout from Comcast. This was partially offset by lower taxes during the quarter, it said. <\/p>\n<p>Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 7% to $704 million from the same period last year. <\/p>\n<p>Versant said that when compared with stand-alone adjusted EBITDA, a metric to more directly compare the performance of pre-spin portfolio companies to current results, adjusted EBITDA was up about 5%. This was due to a decrease in entertainment programming expenses and a decrease in selling, general and administrative costs, which offset the decline in revenues. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">paths of development<\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Versant has consistently touted its power in sports and news. On Thursday, the company highlighted viewership growth for CNBC and MS Now, as well as the continued momentum of Golf Channel and other live sports and events on its networks.<\/p>\n<p>The company is exploring growth through mergers and acquisitions and acquiring more sports rights. On Thursday, Lazarus said Versant was &#8220;looking at different areas&#8221; when it comes to potential deals.<\/p>\n<p>CFO and COO Anand Kini said during Thursday&#8217;s call that while exploring M&#038;A remains a part of Versant&#8217;s strategy, the company is also focusing on maintaining a healthy balance sheet and focusing on organic growth within its businesses. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur platform&#8217;s revenue growth this quarter shows that GolfNow and Fandango have truly driven organic growth,\u201d Kinney said. \u201cSo we&#8217;re going to see when there are opportunities that are inorganic, (but) their ceiling is very high, even if they fit into those markets and those strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The company also continued its previous pledge to return capital to its shareholders, largely due to its light debt load. <\/p>\n<p>The company on Thursday declared a quarterly cash dividend for the second consecutive quarter, each time at 37.5 cents per share. The new dividend is payable on July 22 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 1. <\/p>\n<p>Versant also announced that it expects to enter into a $100 million accelerated share repurchase agreement beginning Friday, which it expects to complete during the second quarter. Versant repurchased about 2.7 million shares of Class A common stock during the first quarter, with remaining authorization of about $900 million as of March 31, it said. <\/p>\n<p><em>Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ArticleBody-googlePreferredSourceContainer\" data-module=\"GooglePreferredSource\" data-id=\"RegularArticle-GooglePreferredSource-5\"><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/\">Choose CNBC as your favorite source on Google and never miss a moment of the most trusted name in business news.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Versant Media Group on thursday unveiling results For its most recent quarter \u2013 its first as a stand-alone company after the separation Comcast&#8217;s NBCUniversal and began trading on the Nasdaq earlier this year. The report reveals continued pressure in traditional pay TV bundles, but highlights growth in digital platforms and licensing businesses. Versant&#8217;s stock rose<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[814,30895,30896],"class_list":["post-137767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-news","tag-earnings","tag-versant","tag-vsnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137771,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137767\/revisions\/137771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}