Paramount+ Revenue Climbs 11% as Streamer Swings to $251 Million Profit in Q1

• Paramount reported revenue of $7.3 billion on earnings of 15 cents per share, in line with Wall Street estimates compiled by Yahoo Finance.

• The Warner Bros. Discovery merger remains on track to close by the third quarter after securing shareholder approval. The deal is still subject to approval by regulators.

• Shares of the media giant climbed over 3% following the results.

Paramount+ swung to a profit of $251 million and grew revenue 11% to $2.4 billion in the first quarter as the streamer added 700,000 subscribers for a total of 79.6 million.

Excluding the impact of the exit of international hard bundle subscribers, the service added 1.9 million subscribers.

Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger scores shareholder approval

The latest quarterly results come as the company’s pending $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery is on track to close by the third quarter. The deal has been approved by shareholders, but remains subject to regulatory approval. Regulators in the U.K. are gearing up to begin their review of the deal, with its deadline for public comments closing last week.

A group of U.S. state attorneys general led by California’s Rob Bonta are also reviewing the deal and weighing whether to take legal action against the merger. Bonta previously told TheWrap that “red flags are everywhere when you have a merger of this type” and that the states are prepared to “act timely,” but declined to provide a specific timeline for when a decision could be made.

If the deal is not closed by Sept. 30, WBD shareholders will receive a 25 cent per share “ticking fee” for each quarter until closing. In the event that the deal does not close at all due to regulatory matters, Paramount will pay WBD a $7 billion termination fee.

Paramount+, Pluto TV, BET+ tech stack merger on track for summer launch

The company remains on track to merge Paramount+, Pluto TV and BET+ onto a unified backend infrastructure by the summer. The latter service will be folded into Paramount+ starting in June. In an interview with TheWrap, Paramount Chief Revenue Officer Jay Askinasi also teased a “complete evolution” of Pluto TV, with the FAST service’s refresh also set to take place this summer.

More to come…