Versant releases first financial results as separate company

Versant has reported its first financial results as an independent company, covering the first quarter of 2026.

“Our first quarter as an independent company marks an important milestone for Versant and reflects a solid start to the year,” said Mark Lazarus, chief executive officer, in a statement. 

Overall, the company, which was spun off from Comcast on Jan. 2, 2026, reported revenue of $1.69 billion, which was down 1% over the previous quarter but did beat Wall Street expectations of $1.62 billion.

Profit was down 22% to $286 million when compared to 2025 figures when its units were still part of Comcast. Executives said that dip was due to lower revenues, higher operating costs attributed to becoming a public company and interest expenses that came after the spinoff.

While advertising revenue was off 5% to $368 million, that was still better than the 2o25 vs. 2024 dip of 12%.

The company’s content licensing revenue was up 113.5% to $121 million. Most of that was from a deal the spun-off company forged with Hulu that brought the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” franchise to the streamer.

Versant also posted a 9.5% rise in revenue for its platforms business. This unit brought in $192 million. This includes the Fandango and GolfNow brands, which are typically sold directly to consumers. 

Despite that growth, Lazarus noted the company will continue “gauge” how revenue begins to shift across all types of distribution models.

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The company noted that it’s longer-term goal is to bring “revenue diversification” to all of its verticals. 

The company still makes 80% of its revenue from pay television, but executives have noted the company is looking to get that to about 50% of revenue, a change that will require boosting its other units.

During the earnings call, Versant also announced it has repurchased $100 million of its Class A shares as part of a previously-created repurchase authorization plan valued at $1 billion. Investors will also get a second quarterly cash dividend of $0.375 per share (the other one was from the period covering the last quarter of 2025). 

In addition, Versant announced plans for a $100 million accelerated share repurchase program.