Fuji Media Holdings said Thursday that it expects to incur a consolidated operating loss of ¥12 billion ($79.5 million) for fiscal 2025, which would be its first full-year operating loss since becoming a holding company in 2008.
The parent of Fuji Television Network previously projected ¥2.5 billion in profit for the year through March 2026. The downward revision reflects slower-than-expected recovery in advertising revenue, which slumped due to the group's poor handling of a sex scandal involving former popular TV personality Masahiro Nakai. In the previous year, Fuji Media earned an operating profit of ¥18.2 billion.
The revenue forecast was also lowered to ¥546.6 billion from ¥561 billion.
For April-June this year, Fuji Media logged a consolidated operating loss of ¥12.7 billion, against a profit of ¥6.5 billion a year earlier, as revenue slid 10.4% to ¥116.1 billion.
It secured a net profit on the back of its robust real estate business and share sales, although it slumped 85.1% from a year earlier.
Fuji TV posted an operating loss of ¥21.7 billion, against a profit of ¥1.2 billion a year earlier, on revenue of ¥25 billion, down 54.1%. It incurred a net loss of ¥18.9 billion, against the previous year's profit of ¥800 million.
The number of commercial advertisers between April and July stood at 259, down by about 60% from a year before. But some major companies including Toyota Motor Corp. started coming back as sponsors in light of the group's reform efforts under a new management launched at a shareholders meeting in June.
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