Fox Corp Earnings - Q1 2027 Analysis & Highlights
Fox reported record first-quarter revenue and EBITDA, driven by the FIFA Men’s World Cup, political advertising, sports, and growth at Tubi and FOX One; management also highlighted subscriber trends, capital returns, and the pending Roku transaction.
Key financial results
Revenue increased 22% to $4.6 billion, while EBITDA rose 54% to a first-quarter record of $1.64 billion.
Net income attributable to stockholders was $943 million, or $2.20 per share, versus $599 million, or $1.32 per share, a year earlier.
Adjusted net income was $1.09 billion and adjusted EPS was $2.54, up 68% from $1.51 in the prior-year period.
Total expenses increased 10%, primarily due to World Cup costs and higher digital content costs.
Free cash flow was $503 million; management said the increase reflected World Cup working-capital timing, with rights payments made in fiscal 2026 and advertising receivables continuing to be collected in the first half of fiscal 2027.
Business segment results
Cable: Revenue increased 8% and EBITDA increased 7%. Advertising revenue rose 8%, mainly on higher sports advertising, partially offset by lower digital news advertising; distribution revenue grew 10% on affiliate renewal pricing and net subscriber growth; content and other revenue increased 1%.
Cable segment expenses rose 10%, reflecting higher sports rights and production costs, including the World Cup, as well as higher news programming costs.
Television: Revenue grew 32% and EBITDA increased 134%. Advertising revenue rose 60%, driven by the World Cup and early midterm political advertising, primarily at owned-and-operated stations; distribution revenue grew 4%, while content and other revenue fell 4%.
Television segment expenses increased 8% due to higher sports rights amortization and production costs, led by the World Cup, and higher Tubi content costs; lower NFL costs from game timing partially offset those increases.
Tubi: The service delivered mid-30% revenue growth and increased its year-over-year EBITDA contribution.
Capital allocation
Fox temporarily paused share repurchases during the quarter but expected full-year repurchases to remain within its historical range and anticipated resuming buybacks in the current quarter.
Management said the buyback restart should not be interpreted as an indication of the expected timing of the Roku transaction closing; the decisions were separate.
Fox ended the quarter with approximately $4.5 billion in cash and $6.6 billion in debt.
The call reported quarterly free cash flow of $503 million but did not provide a capital-expenditure outlook or discuss dividends.
Industry trends and dynamics
Management described advertising trends across Fox’s portfolio as healthy and said Tubi’s revenue growth continued into the current quarter.
Political advertising across Fox had surpassed $350 million, a record for a midterm cycle; management cited more than $250 million at local stations, about $50 million at Tubi, and more than $50 million in national political advertising across sports, news, and entertainment.
Sports drove substantial engagement across Fox’s platforms. The World Cup final was described as the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history, and the five-game World Series averaged 12 million viewers.
Fox’s “America’s Game of the Week” averaged nearly 25 million viewers and was the top show in all of television for the NFL season to date.
Cable distributors’ subscriber declines were running at below 6%, an improvement in industry trends; Fox said FOX One additions, together with improving distributor trends, supported net subscriber growth.
Management noted that local stations can run out of advertising inventory during political cycles, pushing some base-market advertising aside.
Management characterized the digital advertising market as hypercompetitive, while saying Fox was pleased with FOX News Digital’s results.
Competitive landscape
FOX News finished the quarter as the most-watched cable news network, with audience-share levels above peers in both prime time and total day; Lachlan Murdoch said it ended the year with more share than its two cable competitors combined.
Murdoch said FOX News’ CPMs still had room to move toward broadcast CPM levels and noted that Fox competes more with broadcast networks than with cable news competitors.
Murdoch described Tubi’s young, diverse, mostly cordless audience as difficult for advertisers to reach, which he said had helped Tubi attract advertising revenue.
On FOX News ratings, Murdoch cited viewer fatigue and difficult comparisons with the prior year’s major news events; he said viewers were watching somewhat less television overall rather than switching to other news channels.
Macroeconomic environment
The call focused on the midterm political advertising cycle as a major revenue driver, but did not discuss inflation, tariffs, trade, or recession.
Growth opportunities and strategies
FOX One had exceeded management’s expectations for users and engagement; September subscriber acquisitions were up more than 30% versus the start of the prior football season, with engagement balanced between news and sports.
Murdoch said about 97% of FOX One subscribers did not have a cable subscription, making the service largely incremental to Fox’s subscriber base; he cautioned that subscriber additions could be seasonal and might not always offset traditional pay-TV losses.
Fox said Tubi’s growth was supported by its content library, World Cup hub, 10 new originals, and viral content from more than 600 creators; total view time increased 23% year over year as revenue grew 35%.
Murdoch said Tubi could become a business with margins in the 20% range as it matures.
Fox said combining Roku’s streaming platform with Fox’s sports, news, and entertainment content would strengthen its position in growing media segments and support sustained growth and shareholder value.
Fox reported receiving Fox and Roku shareholder approvals and foreign regulatory approvals for the Roku transaction, while continuing to work with the DOJ to obtain HSR clearance.
Fox said it would assess the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cup rights in a disciplined manner.
Financial Guidance and Outlook
Management said fiscal 2027 would build on fiscal 2026 and first-quarter performance, highlighting the company’s assets, execution, and balance sheet, but did not provide numerical full-year revenue, EBITDA, EPS, or cash-flow guidance.
Fox expected full-year share repurchases to be within its historical range and anticipated resuming buybacks in the current quarter.
Management expected Tubi’s strong revenue growth to continue into the current quarter and described its longer-term mature margin potential as approximately 20%.
Murdoch cautioned that FOX One subscriber trends may be seasonal with sports schedules, so its additions may not consistently offset traditional subscriber declines.
Fox expected to close the Roku transaction as soon as possible after obtaining HSR clearance, without specifying a closing date.
