Fox Surpasses Quarterly Estimates, Increases Buyback Authorization by $5 Billion

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Fox Corp (FOXA.O) reported quarterly revenue and profit that exceeded Wall Street expectations, driven by strong advertising growth, rising affiliate fees, and the expanding audience of its free ad-supported streaming service, Tubi. The company also announced an increase of $5 billion to its share repurchase authorization.

In the fiscal fourth quarter, revenue from affiliate fees rose 2.6%, supported by growth across both cable and television segments. Despite challenging comparisons with last year’s major international sports events like Copa America and the UEFA European Championship, Fox benefited from improving advertising trends. Advertising revenue grew 7.1%, fueled primarily by digital growth led by Tubi and higher news ratings and pricing.

Tubi’s growth strengthens Fox’s position in the fast-expanding ad-supported streaming sector, attracting younger, cord-cutting viewers who are less reachable via traditional TV. Building on this momentum, Fox plans to launch a subscription-based streaming service, Fox One, on August 21 at $19.99 per month to extend its reach beyond cable TV.

In June, Fox expanded its sports broadcasting footprint in Mexico by acquiring Caliente TV, a sports-focused streaming platform and television channel.

Fox’s total revenue for the quarter rose 6.3% to $3.29 billion, beating estimates of $3.12 billion. The cable network programming unit posted nearly 7% revenue growth to $1.53 billion amid the ongoing shift to digital streaming.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.27, surpassing analysts’ estimates of 99 cents.

Orange to Harness OpenAI’s Latest AI Models for African Languages

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French telecom giant Orange announced plans to leverage OpenAI’s cutting-edge AI models to advance African language technology. Despite the continent’s rich linguistic diversity—over 2,000 languages—the benefits of AI have largely bypassed African languages due to scarce data and limited computing resources, according to researchers from Cornell University and the journal Nature.

Operating in 18 African countries, Orange signed a deal last year with OpenAI to access pre-release AI models and fine-tune large language models for regional African language translation tasks. The company began deploying OpenAI’s Whisper speech model this year for speech recognition but aims to expand into more sophisticated applications with the latest models.

OpenAI’s open-weight models provide publicly accessible parameters, enabling developers like Orange to customize models for specific needs without needing the original training datasets. Orange plans to fine-tune these models using its own collected samples of African languages and roll them out locally.

Steve Jarrett, Orange’s Chief AI Officer, told Reuters the company intends to provide these fine-tuned models free of charge to local governments and public authorities. He emphasized that the initiative serves as a blueprint for bridging the digital divide through AI, fostering collaboration with local startups and communities to elevate African languages as “first-class citizens” in the AI landscape.

Zalando Revises 2025 Outlook Amid Inventory and Growth Concerns

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Zalando, Germany’s largest online fashion marketplace, has adjusted its 2025 guidance following the acquisition of rival About You. While the updated forecast reflects higher expected sales, analysts and investors expressed concern over growing inventories, heavier discounting, and signs of weaker consumer sentiment—factors that could weigh on second-half performance.

After initially gaining, Zalando’s shares fell 5.6% to their lowest level in almost a year, bringing year-to-date losses to around 25%. Deutsche Bank analyst Adam Cochrane noted that the stock’s appeal as a revenue growth play is now in question, with less potential for earnings to exceed expectations.

The company now expects 2025 gross merchandise volume (GMV) of €17.2–€17.6 billion ($19.91–$20.38 billion), representing 12–15% growth from last year’s figures for the combined group. This is a sharp increase from its previous forecast of 4–9% growth, largely due to the inclusion of About You, acquired in July for €1.13 billion.

Second-quarter GMV rose 5% year-on-year to €4.06 billion, but gross margin slipped by 80 basis points due to increased discounting. Analysts flagged that earnings quality was weaker than hoped and pointed to a 15% year-on-year inventory rise to €1.66 billion by June 30, raising the risk of more markdowns ahead.

Co-CEO Robert Gentz acknowledged weaker consumer sentiment but remained optimistic about a strong second half. Interim CFO David Schroeder said the third quarter had started well, with mid-single-digit growth expected to continue.

Zalando is also expanding its European logistics network, opening it to partners in an effort to boost growth amid rising competition from fast-fashion rivals like Shein. The company forecasts 2025 adjusted EBIT of €550–€600 million for the combined group, up from its prior estimate of €530–€590 million excluding About You. Gentz added that while U.S. tariffs would not directly affect operations, they could dampen consumer sentiment in the long term.