Comcast’s Versant reports declining annual profit as it prepares to go public

Versant, Comcast’s spinoff of the majority of its NBCUniversal cable network portfolio, is gearing up to go public.

The new entity will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker “VSNT” after the separation, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday. Investors also became privy to more of Versant’s financials.

According to the filing, Versant’s revenue has been on the decline in recent years. Last year, the assets housed under Versant generated $7 billion in revenue. That’s down from $7.4 billion in 2023 and $7.8 billion in 2022.

Net income attributable to Versant was $1.4 billion last year, down from $1.5 billion in 2023 and $1.8 billion in 2022.

Cable networks and traditional media companies have faced financial pressures as viewers have migrated from the traditional pay TV bundle to streaming platforms, diminishing ad spending within the market.

Comcast’s decision to put the likes of USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel into a new company was to isolate the declining cable business from the more profitable internet and streaming services. Versant could then be solely focused on how to evolve its brands to compete in a streaming-dominated media landscape.

Thursday’s filing detailed that around 65 million households get some form of cable.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.