Sky back in profit ahead of cutting 900 UK jobs
Media and telecoms giant Sky recovered from losing almost £800m to return to the black in 2024 before preparing to cut hundreds of jobs.
Sky, which was bought by the US media company Comcast for £30bn in 2018, has posted a pre-tax profit of £253m for its latest financial year.
The total comes after Sky fell to a pre-tax loss of £773m in 2023.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show its revenue increased from £10.2bn to £10.3bn.
Sky’s direct to consumer revenue rose from £8.5bn to £8.7bn and its content sales edged up from £527m to £529m.
However, its advertising revenue slipped from £1.2bn to £1.1bn.
Sky said its direct to consumer revenue was higher because of price increases.
Sky has cut 3,000 jobs since 2023
The results have been published after City PM reported in September that Sky is set to cut around 900 jobs in the UK.
The company is shifting its focus from new product launches to enhancing existing services and competing with US streaming giants.
Around 600 roles are expected to go in the group’s operations with the remaining staff potentially redeployed, depending on the outcome of a consultation.
Sky employs approximately 23,000 people in the UK and has already cut around 3,000 roles since 2023, mainly in traditional positions such as satellite dish installers, as the company has shifted from TV via satellite to broadband-based services.
The business plans to invest more in its own content, including production at its new Sky Studios complex in Elstree, to bolster its offering against large US competitors.
Sky is set to lose the exclusive right to broadcast HBO shows, such as Game of Thrones and The White Lotus, at the end of 2025.
However, it has secured a long-term agreement to offer HBO content via Warner Bros Discovery’s HBO Max streaming service.
The job cuts also coincide with broader strategic changes, including the scrapping of Sky’s flagship business show, Business Live, just months after long-time presenter Ian King left the programme.
Sky said business and economics coverage will continue across its TV programming, with existing anchors redeployed.
Business Live axed
In August, City PM exclusively reported that Sky News had cancelled its daily Business Live news programme, leaving the channel without a stand-alone business programme for the first time since 2007.
The move is the latest part of a major strategic overhaul announced by boss David Rhodes in January, which has seen the channel shift its focus away from live and rolling news to produce more “premium video” as well as newsletters and podcasts.
The new strategy – called Sky News 2030 – is an effort to diversify the broadcaster’s revenue streams from its traditional sponsorship and advertising avenues, to more lucrative paths like subscription models and ticketed events.