CBS revenues up, net earnings fall in the first quarter

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) Corporation announced its first-quarter profit Thursday that revenues increased 2 percent while net earnings dropped more than 6 percent.

Revenues of 3.7 billion U.S. dollars for the first quarter of 2007 increased 2 percent from 3.6 billion dollars for the same quarter last year, as growth of 27 percent at Publishing and a 9- percent-decline at Radio, where the divestitures of radio stations impacted year-over-year comparisons.

Net earnings for the first quarter of 2007 were 213.5 million dollars, or 0.28 dollar per diluted share, compared with 226.9 million dollars, or 0.30 dollar per diluted share, for the same prior-year period.

Analysts expected the media company, whose properties include the CBS television network, Showtime, Simon & Schuster publishing, to earn 32 cents a share.

However, shares of CBS rose 17 cent, or 0.53 percent to 31.98 dollars on the New York Stock Exchange.

Source: Xinhua