spacetoday.net: Hughes reports smaller loss

Posted: Tue, Apr 15, 2003, 9:18 PM ET (0118 GMT)
Hughes Electronics, the parent company of satellite television provider DirecTV, reported a loss of $50 million in its fiscal first quarter, far smaller than its loss the previous year. Hughes said it had a net loss of $50.9 million in the quarter ending March 31, compared to $837.7 million in the same quarter of 2002; last year's loss was affected by accounting rule changes and write offs of its investments in its Latin American and broadband subsidiaries. The company reported revenue of $2.2 billion in the quarter, up ten percent from the same quarter in 2002, with $1.8 billion coming from its DirecTV unit. DirecTV reported an increase of 275,000 subscribers in the quarter, bring its total customers to 11.42 million. The financial statement comes less than a week after News Corporation reached a deal with Hughes' parent, General Motors, to purchase a controlling interest in the company.