Aug 6 (Reuters) - Fox Corp beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and profit on Thursday, as the FIFA World Cup boosted advertising sales during a busy news cycle.
Shares of the company rose 2.3% in premarket trading.
More advertisers flocked to Fox, which held the exclusive English-language broadcast rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the U.S., while NBCUniversal's Telemundo held the Spanish-language rights.
The Spain-Argentina final drew 63 million viewers in the United States.
The
company reported revenue of $4.21 billion, compared with analysts' average estimate of $3.64 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
"Fiscal 2026 was an exceptional year for Fox, capped by our broadcast of a remarkable FIFA Men's World Cup," CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement.
The company owns brands including Fox News, Fox Sports, the ad-supported streaming service Tubi and the subscription streaming service Fox One.
Fox said its advertising revenue surged 78% to $1.92 billion, driven by the broadcast of the World Cup and the continued digital growth at Tubi.
It reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.79, beating estimates of $1.42.
In June, Fox announced it would buy Roku in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $22 billion, a move to bolster its presence in streaming on internet-connected TVs and reduce its reliance on traditional cable television, whose audience has been shrinking for years.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
