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BSkyB 3Q net up by 8 per cent to $277.5 million
MUMBAI: British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) has reported an 8 per cent increase in the third quarter net profit. The company said net profit for the three months ended 31 March rose to 151 million pounds ($277.5 million), from 140 million pounds a year ago.
BSkyB revenue went up by 11 per cent to 1.06 billion pounds ($1.9 billion). The company also revealed a steep drop in subscriber growth ahead of the launch of new products later this year.
The company said it recorded net subscriber growth of 40,000 in the quarter, significantly less that the 95,000 increase in “direct-to-home” customers in the first quarter of 2005. Analysts had predicted growth of 30,000 to 50,000 new subscribers.
The broadcaster now has 8.1 million subscribers, it has a target of 10 million by 2010, and forecasts adding 600,000 in the final quarter of this year following the rollout of new products.
BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch said, “The business is performing well and is delivering on the plan we laid out for 2006. Our focus during the quarter was to successfully implement our new customer management systems, complete the final preparations for the launch of Sky HD, and continue to ready the business for the launch of residential broadband services in the summer. Operational achievements in the quarter were outstanding. We achieved our goals, continued to grow our customer base and increased the number of products they choose to take from us.”
Applications
Canva acquires animation and AI startups Cavalry and MangoAI
The deals strengthen Canva’s push into enterprise and AI-led design workflows
AUSTRALIA: Global visual communication platform Canva has stepped up its acquisition drive, buying UK-based 2D animation platform Cavalry and US-based AI startup MangoAI to deepen its AI-powered creative stack.
Cavalry, whose tools are used by brands including Amazon, Meta, Google and Netflix, will strengthen Canva’s motion design capabilities. The deal builds on Canva’s 2024 acquisition of Affinity, which has crossed four million downloads since launch. With Cavalry, Canva now counts seven Europe-based acquisitions, underscoring its global expansion strategy.
MangoAI, an early-stage startup focused on video advertising optimisation, will integrate its reinforcement learning systems into Canva AI. The move aims to enable brands to generate personalised marketing content in real time, cutting production cycles while improving campaign performance. MangoAI co-founder Vinith Misra will join Canva as reinforcement learning lead in its research lab.
Canva co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht said the acquisitions reflect the company’s ambition to make professional-grade creative tools more accessible without sidelining human creativity. The goal, he said, is to bring everything from vector to motion design into a single, integrated suite.
The company now reports 265 million active users, including 31 million paid subscribers, and $4 billion in annualised revenue, up 36 per cent year on year. The latest buys further position Canva against rivals such as Adobe and Apple’s Creator Studio as it pushes deeper into enterprise workflows.
Canva head of pro design marketing Liam Fisher, said AI is intended to act as a creative assistant rather than a replacement, reinforcing the primacy of craft and individual design judgement.
