New York: Time Warner Inc reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter results, largely due to box office hits such as the "Harry Potter" spinoff "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them."
The New York-based media company, which AT&T Inc is in the process of buying, reported an 11.5 percent rise in quarterly revenue and said the merger remained on track to close later this year.
US President Donald Trump opposed AT&T's $85.4bn bid for Time Warner during his election campaign. Time Warner, which owns film studio Warner Bros as well as the CNN and HBO channels, reported net income of $317m, or 40 cents per share, from continuing operations, down from $857m, or $1.06 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding some items, the company earned $1.25 per share, compared with the analysts' average estimate of $1.19. Revenue rose to $7.89bn from $7.08bn. Analysts on average had expected $7.72bn, according to Thomson Revenue from Warner Bros, the company's biggest revenue generator, rose 17 percent to $3.87bn.
Revenue from HBO, home to popular shows such as "Game of Thrones" and the new breakout series "Westworld," rose 5.6 percent to $1.49bn.
Time Warner, which is losing its audience to streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, took a 10 percent stake in video streaming site Hulu in August as part of its efforts to keep users hooked.
