Fox Corporation (NASDAQ:FOX) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Steve Tomsic: John, I think if you fast forward, like if you fast forward to the end of the fiscal based on the ASR and our regular share repurchases, we’ll have done $4.6 billion in share repurchases by June 30, call it. You compare that against how much we’ve deployed in M&A, which on a gross basis is about 1.5 billion on a net basis after asset sales is probably $500 million, $600 million. So we’ve been super balanced, super disciplined on M&A. And if anything, the SKU so far in the life of Fox has been towards capital returns to shareholders. So we’re going to continue to be thoughtful in the way we deploy capital.

Lachlan Murdoch: And then on the affiliate question, John, I think we are now through for this fiscal year, all of our significant — maybe one, but all of our significant affiliate renewals will start again in the very beginning of the next fiscal year, this summer with some important renewals. But for this fiscal, we’re through with them. What we’ve seen in the renewals this past year is the importance really of our Fox brands with our affiliate partners and the pricing power that we have with them. And I think that’s been pretty, very evident in all of our renewals to date. More and more, like when you look at the split between our cable affiliate revenue and our television affiliate revenue, we really negotiate those together.

So we’ve been focused on the television half of that ledger, but you have to think about the strength of these brands as a combined strength and where we in the marketplace find are kind of best ability to push rate is where we do, and that’s been really on the television side, the retransmission side of that ledger. But it’s the strength of the portfolio that allows us to do that. So yes, so we are looking forward to continued success in our affiliate renewals as we get into the next fiscal year.

Gabrielle Brown: At this point, we are out of time. But if you have any further questions, please give me or Dan Carey a call. Thank you again for joining us today.

Lachlan Murdoch: Thank you, everyone.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Executive Teleconference. You may now disconnect.